AP-Religion Roundup
     
Update on the latest in religion news:

MISSING CLIMBERS
     
Chaplain: families of missing climbers "grieving and hoping"

     
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. (AP) - A chaplain for the police and fire
departments in Sandy, Ore., says the three young Christians who
failed to return from climbing Mount Hood on Friday met through
church activities.
     
The body of 26-year-old Luke Gullberg was found Saturday, but
the search continued Sunday for 24-year-old Anthony Vietti and
29-year-old Katie Nolan.
     
Chaplain Dennis Simons says Nolan has traveled extensively for
Christian causes.
     
Simons has been praying with relatives of the climbers at a ski
lodge near Oregon's highest mountain. As the search continued, he
said the families "are grieving and hoping."

CLIMATE-RELIGION
     
Ecumenical service held to support world climate summit

     
COPENHAGEN (AP) - Christian leaders from around the world have
held an ecumenical worship service at Copenhagen's Lutheran
cathedral to support efforts to stop global warming.
     
Sunday's service was led by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams, the world Anglican leader.
     
He was joined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and
church leaders from Tuvalu, Zambia, Mexico, Greenland and Denmark.
They carried symbols of climate change: a glacier stone from
Greenland, bleached corals from the Pacific Ocean and a dried-up
cob of corn from East Africa.
     
After the service, church bells in Copenhagen and around the
world chimed 350 times to draw attention to global warming. Many
scientists say 350 parts per million is the upper level of what is
considered a safe concentration of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.

STORM-DAMAGED STEEPLE
     
Church restores cross toppled by tornado

     
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minneapolis church has returned its
14-foot-tall cross to the top of its steeple, which was damaged by
a tornado last August.
     
Central Lutheran Church held a ceremony as a 200-foot crane
raised the 900-pound solid brass cross back to the spire and
reattached it. The spire's cross was originally mounted in 1928.
     
Part of the church's steeple toppled when a tornado struck
downtown Minneapolis on Aug. 19. The church was hosting events for
the national Evangelical Lutheran Church in America convention
being held next door at the Minneapolis Convention Center when the
storm hit.
     
Central Lutheran spokesman Joe Bjordal (BYOR'-dahl) says the
storm caused almost $300,000 in damage to the church. No one was
hurt.

PASTOR-STIMULUS
     
Pastor gives away his pay raise

     
ALCESTER, S.D. (AP) - A pastor in the South Dakota town of
Alcester (AHL'-sehs-tur) has come up with his own "stimulus"
package.
     
The Rev. Tim Worthington of the United Church of Christ was
given a $1,100 raise earlier this year even though he didn't want
one. So, he handed out $20 bills to dozens of people.
     
Churchgoers could use the money however they wanted. Some raised
calves for market. Others hosted an Italian dinner night. One
bought quilting material, sold individual squares to benefit the
church and stitched a blanket for the pastor.
     
Worthington says his initial $1,100 investment continues to grow
through the various projects in which his congregation has
invested. He says the total now is well over $10,000.

PASTOR KILLED
     
Oklahoma town unsettled by pastor's unsolved slaying

     
ANADARKO, Okla. (AP) - Three months after the slaying of an
Oklahoma pastor in her church, some residents of Anadarko say they
still have a sense of unease.
     
The killing of The Rev. Carol Daniels remains unsolved. The
61-year-old Daniels' body was mutilated and posed behind the altar
of her tiny Christ Holy Sanctified Church.
     
There has been little public word from investigators since the
killing. Police say their leads have evaporated and there is little
to say, other than that they want to catch the killer.
     
Anadarko Mayor Jerry Marcum says there is a lingering fear in
the city of 6,300 people. He says Anadarko is supposed to be a safe
place, but that feeling is absent with the killer still loose.

EPISCOPAL-BISHOPS
     
Episcopalians to pray about consecrating lesbian bishop

     
DALLAS (AP) - Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts
Schori says her church should respond with "prayer and
discernment" to the election of a lesbian bishop to be an
assistant bishop in Los Angeles.
     
At a weekend news conference, Jefferts Schori said that the Rev.
Mary Glasspool must be approved by a majority of Episcopal dioceses
before she can be consecrated, and that could take several months.
     
The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States.
In 2003, it caused an uproar by consecrating its first openly gay
bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
      The following year, Anglican leaders asked the Episcopal Church
to hold off on any more gay bishops while they tried to prevent a
permanent break in the fellowship.
      But in July, the U.S. church's top policy making body affirmed
that gay and lesbian priests were eligible to become bishops
despite pressure from other Anglicans.

NATIONAL MENORAH
     
Rahm Emanuel lights National Menorah outside White House

     
WASHINGTON (AP) - White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has
lit the National Menorah on the Ellipse in front of the White House
in celebration of Hanukkah.
     
The Sunday ceremony marked the 30th anniversary of the first
National Menorah lighting in 1979. President Jimmy Carter attended
that ceremony.
      Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Second
Temple in Jerusalem in 164 B.C. after its desecration by
Syrian-Greek invaders. The eight-day festival began on Friday.
      Emanuel, who is Jewish, was the guest of honor at the lighting
ceremony. He stood in a cherry picker to light it in front of more
than 1,000 onlookers on a cold, rainy day.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS
     
Israeli rabbis denounce mosque vandalism in West Bank

     
TAPUACH JUNCTION, West Bank (AP) - Israeli rabbis have visited a
Palestinian village in the West Bank where Jewish extremists are
believed to have vandalized a mosque.
     
Jewish settlers in the West Bank have been enraged over the
Israeli government's decision to limit settlement construction for
10 months.
     
The delegation of rabbis met with Palestinians on Sunday to
denounce the attack on the mosque as a crime and to seek
reconciliation. The leader of the delegation, Rabbi Menachem
Froman, said: "This is destroying a house that is built for
worshipping God."
     
Froman said, "We are representatives of the religion of Israel
and we want to say very clearly that the deed is against our
religion."

SOMALIA-EXECUTIONS
     
Islamist militants stage flogging, executions

     
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - In Somalia, witnesses say Islamist
militants have executed two men accused by the fighters of murder
and adultery.
     
Witnesses in a town southwest of the capital say the Hizbul
Islam militants on Sunday stoned to death the man accused of
adultery and shot the man accused of murder. They say the militants
summoned the town's residents to watch the executions.
    
An 18-year-old woman was also seen being whipped for adultery
with the man who was stoned to death.
     
Islamic courts run by radical clerics have ordered executions,
floggings and amputations in recent months. In some areas militants
have also banned movies, musical telephone ringtones, dancing at
weddings and playing or watching soccer.

     
     
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)
     
AP-NY-12-14-09 0330EST