UN panel questions Vatican record on child sex abuse. The Geneva-based United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on the Vatican to give detailed information about its record on child sexual abuse. The request comes ahead of the Vatican’s scheduled appearance in front of the committee in January 2014. According to the list of issues submitted by the U.N. committee, the Vatican will have to explain the measures it has put in place to “ensure that no member of the clergy currently accused of sexual abuse be allowed to remain in contact with children.” The Vatican will also have to detail cases when “priests were transferred” after being accused of abuse, as well as its compensation policy for abuse victims, and whether compensation was linked to requiring victims to sign confidentiality agreements.
Southern Baptist named King’s College President. Greg Thornbury, dean of Union 
Greg ThornburyUniversity’s theology school in Jackson, Tenn., was named president of The King’s College, a New York City evangelical school. Thornbury, 42, succeeds conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza, who last year acknowledged a relationship with a woman who was not his wife. Thornbury will start his post on Aug. 1. The King’s College enrolled 564 full-time students last fall.
Queen Elizabeth OKs same-sex marriage. England and Wales became the world’s 16th and 17th countries to recognize gay marriage after Queen Elizabeth II gave “royal assent” to a same-sex marriage bill. Under the new law, gay men and women will be able to join together in civil ceremonies or in church services, although no religious denomination will be forced to carry out such services. The Roman Catholic Church fought the bill and the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales swiftly issued a statement of its displeasure. Separate legislation has been presented to the Scottish government to make same-sex marriage legal. Debates are expected to begin in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, in October or November.
British TV channel broadcasts Muslim call to prayer. With a stated aim to “provoke,” Britain’s best-known TV company, Channel 4, is offering a live daily broadcast of the adhan—the early-hour Muslim call to prayer. The broadcasts, airing each morning at 3 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, will continue throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
–Compiled from Religion News Service
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