Vatican Abuse Letter Revealed

The Vatican warned Ireland's Catholic bishops in 1997 not to tell police about possible cases of child abuse. Even though the Vatican has long denied any involvement in coverups and says it never encouraged priests to withhold evidence, the letter suggests it rejected attempts by Irish churches to help police identify pedophile priests.

Church Loses Members' Money

The Presbyterian church in Northern Ireland has lost all the money of members who invested in it. CNN has the story.

Atheism and IQ

A professor of psychology in Ireland claims he can tell how likely you are to be an atheist - by knowing your IQ. Richard Lynn of the University of Ulster says the higher the IQ, the more likely a person will deny the existence of God. Lynn says he studied atheists in 137 countries to come up with his theory. Details will be published in the journal Intelligence. Other papers by Lynn have linked intelligence with race and sex.

Ireland & Christianity

A poll surveying the religious knowledge of the Irish found only 42% of those in the North knew that there were four Gospels and 68% knew that Genesis was the first book of the Bible. The North is dominated by Protestants. Only 21% of those in the North between the ages of 16 and 24 could say there were four Gospels. And 26% could name the first of the 10 Commandments. In the South, a largely Roman Catholic area, 39% could name the first of the 10 Commandments. The survey was conducted by The Iona Institute.

Cross Controversy at Western Wall

Three church leaders from Ireland say have been prevented from praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City. A Roman Catholic Cardinal, the Church of Ireland Archbishop, as well as Presbyterian and Methodist Irish leaders refused to remove the crosses they were wearing. They left without visiting the remnant. The group is on a peace mission to Israel and the West Bank. The Western Wall was built by King Herod in the 6th century BC. Other sections of the temple were destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.