Associated Press

News of a religious nature from around the world:

Vatican envoy: Time has come get tough with Beijing

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican's top envoy for China says the time has come for the Holy See to get tough with Beijing and not compromise over religious freedom.

Cardinal Joseph Zen says relations are taking a "worrisome slide" and that a new phase in relations was necessary.

Zen says the Vatican shouldn't give too much importance to re-establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing because such a move could trick people into thinking there is religious freedom in China when there isn't.

Pope Benedict XVI has been reaching out to Beijing in hopes of reconciling the official, state-sanctioned church with the underground church that is loyal to Rome.

Zen spoke in an interview Tuesday with the Vatican-affiliated missionary news agency AsiaNews.

Federal judge allows ministry to leaflet at St. Louis gay pride event

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A federal judge has issued a permanent order allowing a ministry to leaflet at a gay pride event in St. Louis later this month.

A lawyer representing Apple of His Eye Inc. said Monday that the ministry will resume religious leafleting at St. Louis' PrideFest on June 27-28, following the judge's ruling.

Ministry members have said they were threatened with arrest by a ranger when they tried to hand out religious fliers at PrideFest in Tower Grove Park in 2006. Some viewed their actions as disruptive and felt they were violating a city ban on leafleting in public parks.

The group's lawyer, Rick Nelson, said members of the Messianic Jewish organization believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah and were handling out fliers about the Gospel. The literature did not mention homosexuality, he said.

The ministry sued last year, and U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey issued a preliminary order, saying St. Louis can't totally ban leafleting in public parks.

Autrey made his order permanent last week.

PrideFest organizers did not respond to requests for comment. The two-day festival draws about 80,000 participants and includes a parade, entertainment, food and information booths.

Hindu dad complains son was force-fed beef taco at school

CINCINNATI (AP) -- A Hindu father from Ohio has filed a complaint with the Justice Department claiming his son was forced to eat a beef taco in the school cafeteria.

Ashish Gandhi says the boy ate the taco at the Academy of World Languages, a public magnet school in Cincinnati. Hindus consider eating beef a sacrilege.

Cincinnati Public Schools attorney Gary Winters told investigators the boy chose the taco himself, and the employee who gave it to him was unaware of his dietary restrictions.

Gandhi, who moved to the U.S. from India in 2007, calls the taco meal an "intentional act of religious bigotry." He filed a separate complaint claiming the school has refused to offer his son services for students who don't speak English.

New Mormon temple in Utah struck by lightning

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah (AP) -- Mother Nature left her mark on a new Mormon temple when a lightning strike hit the building, blackening the golden angel that tops it.

The 60,000 square-foot Oquirrh Mountain Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was hit during a rain storm last Saturday.

Church spokeswoman Kim Farah says no structural damage resulted from the strike. She says a crew will regild the 10-foot, 6-inch statue soon.

Most Mormon temples are topped with a statue of the angel, whom Mormons believe led church founder Joseph Smith to the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon originated.

The Oquirrh temple is Utah's 13th and the 130th church temple worldwide. It will open in late August and will serve an estimated 83,000 Latter-day Saints.

Possible conscience conflict for counselors could prompt Neb. regulatory change

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraska's rules for licensed psychologists could change because of concerns about potential conflicts between religious convictions and sexual orientation.

Jim Cunningham of the Nebraska Roman Catholic Conference says psychologists and other licensed therapists should be able to refuse to treat or refer clients because of the counselors' religious or moral convictions.

But psychologist James Cole told regulators that such a rule could open the door for discrimination as long as a therapist claimed a religious conflict. Cole represented the Nebraska Psychology Association at a recent hearing on the proposal.

Ga. church fights sex-trafficking with coalition

ATLANTA (AP) -- Members of the North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta learned in 2005 that teenage prostitutes had begun working within a few steps of the church's doors.

In the four years since then, the church has helped build a wide-ranging coalition with the goal of eradicating child prostitution from the streets of Atlanta.

Included in the fight are Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, conservative Christians, feminists, Jews, Muslims and others. They have formed "Street Grace," an acronym for Galvanizing Resources Against Child Exploitation.

"When you talk to a girl who is 15 and has been prostituted, it doesn't matter anymore if you are pro-life or pro-choice," said state Sen. Renee Unterman, who has become active in the campaign. "You just want to help."

The coalition sent hundreds of volunteers this year to lobby at the Capitol for anti-trafficking legislation. Members also are paying for safehouses for child prostitutes, more than tripling the number of beds from seven to 23.

Vatican names Cathedral of St. Paul a national shrine

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- The Vatican has designated the Cathedral of St. Paul to be the first national shrine in honor of St. Paul.

Roman Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt requested the honor. Under church law, the designation signifies the cathedral as a destination for pilgrimages by the faithful.

About 100 U.S. Catholic churches have won the designation. The St. Paul cathedral is the only one dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle, said Msgr. Anthony Sherman, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Divine Worship.

Paul is honored in the cathedral with a series of bronze grilles that depict major events in his life. The St. Paul Cathedral opened for worship in 1915.