PITTSBURGH - A religious group is planning to distribute 250,000 Pittsburgh-themed New Testament Bibles in advertising pouches to be delivered with editions of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper.

CityReachers Pittsburgh, a program of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based International Bible Society, hopes to send the New Testaments to the paper's subscribers in Allegheny County and some border communities on Sept. 7.

The group has delivered custom-designed Bibles to newspaper subscribers in several other cities across the country in an effort to find innovative ways of spreading a Christian message.

Last month, the group distributed 140,000 New Testaments in Philadelphia and Chester counties. It plans to send out another 260,000 in Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware counties in November.

THE Church of Scientology has lost its grip on James Packer.

The billionaire's closest friends have revealed that he has quietly distanced himself from Scientology, labelled a cult by some former members, as it faces international controversy about its anti-psychiatry stance.

Members of Mr Packer's inner circle have confirmed that the billionaire, who had ranked as Scientology's wealthiest member in the world, was no longer undertaking Scientology courses and had slowly moved away from the religion, telling his closest friends he no longer "needs it".

His office did not respond to the Herald's calls yesterday.

ZION, Ill. - Steve Kreuscher wants a judge to allow him to legally change his name. He wants to be known as “In God We Trust.”

Kreuscher says the new name would symbolize the help God gave him through tough times.

The 57-year-old man also told the Arlington Heights Daily Herald he’s worried that atheists may succeed in removing the phrase “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency.

China will become one of the biggest Bible producing countries in the world when a new printing press opens this month.

Nanjing, once the country's capital, is home to a 48,000-sq metre factory in an industrial park which will employ 600 non-Christian locals producing 23 Bibles a minute. Most will be distributed in China in 10 languages and braille. The plant is expected to supply a quarter of the world's Bibles by 2009.

The Amity Printing Company, a joint venture with the British Bible Society, printed its 50 millionth Bible last December and its new press, opening on May 19, will double annual production to 12m.

Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification church known globally as the Moonies, has handed over control of the movement to his Harvard-educated youngest son in what is being seen as an attempt to broaden the controversial religious organisation's appeal.

In a ceremony near Seoul last week, 28-year-old Hyung Jin Moon was anointed chairman of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the name the church has used since the late 1990s. "I hope everyone helps him so that he may fulfil his duty as the successor of the True Parents," Moon, 88, said, in a characteristically immodest reference to himself and his wife.

Moon the younger, who was born in the state of New York, promised to "develop the church and to connect as many people as possible" to his parents. "I will do my best to bring the love of the True Parents and God to every corner of the world."

Rocky Twyman has a radical solution for surging gasoline prices: prayer.

Twyman - a community organizer, church choir director and public relations consultant from the Washington, D.C., suburbs - staged a pray-in at a San Francisco Chevron station on Friday, asking God for cheaper gas. He did the same thing in the nation's Capitol on Wednesday, with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in. Today he will lead members of an Oakland church in prayer.

Yes, it's come to that.

"God is the only one we can turn to at this point," said Twyman, 59. "Our leaders don't seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring."

Gas prices have been driven relentlessly higher this year by the bull market for crude oil, gasoline's main ingredient. A gallon of regular now costs $3.89, on average, in California, while the national average has hit $3.58.

Judge: Gideon Bibles don't belong in school

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Tangipahoa Parish public schools must stop in-school Bible giveaways to students, a federal judge ruled.

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Opponents of Ten Commandments monument suing Fargo

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Opponents of Fargo's Ten Commandments monument have filed a civil lawsuit against the city, asking that the granite marker be removed.

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Thousands march to demand EU protection for Iraqi Christians

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Thousands of people demonstrated outside EU headquarters to demand protection for Christians in Iraq, saying they were increasingly being targeted in attacks.

He's one of the biggest box-office draws in history, but in recent years Tom Cruise has become more than just the face of his films. He has also become the face of his religion -- Scientology.

A recent video of Cruise -- made for a Scientology event and leaked online -- showed the star's unbridled passion for his religion and piqued the public's interest in a belief system that has long been surrounded by controversy.

"I think it's a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist," Cruise said in the video.

Cruise is a vocal supporter and close friend of Scientology's worldwide leader, David Miscavige, who took over the reins of power when science fiction author and founder L. Ron Hubbard died in 1986.

Miscavige says Scientology can offer its followers greater ability in all areas of life, rid people of negativity, and make them "clear."

But some former members of the Sea Organization, or Sea Org (Scientology's version of clergy -- the group of people who essentially run the church), including a niece of Miscavige, see another side to the religion. They spoke to "Nightline" about how they became increasingly disillusioned with the Church of Scientology, until they decided it was time to leave.

Israeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity's holiest sites.
The scuffles broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Orthodox Palm Sunday.
Brawls are not uncommon at the church, which is uneasily shared by various Christian denominations.
In this case, witnesses say an Armenian priest forcibly ejected a Greek priest from an area near the tomb of Jesus.
They say the attacker felt the Greek priest had spent too long at the tomb.
When police arrived to break up the fight, some were reportedly beaten back by worshippers using palm fronds.

EULESS, Texas (AP) - A Santeria priest has filed an appeal in federal court after he lost his religious-freedom challenge to a city ban on animal slaughter.

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Indiana religious order giving up its monastery
The shrinking number of women called to Roman Catholic religious vocations has caught up with the Carmelite Sisters of Indianapolis. They're giving up their monastery and moving in with another order 60 miles away.

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Kansas pastor-congressman will take diminished role in his church
 Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat who is also a Methodist minister, says he will be taking a smaller role at the church he has led for more than 35 years.