Religion around the world

Televangelist back at megachurch

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Televangelist, life coach and author Paula White has returned to the pulpit of the Tampa megachurch she co-founded.

White will take over as senior pastor at Without Walls International Church, replacing her ex-husband, Randy White, who is resigning because of ill health. The couple started the church, initially known as the South Tampa Christian Center, in 1991.

"I'm not visiting," Paula White said at a service Sunday. "I'm home. I'm here. I look forward to leading you into the place that God has designated and designed for us."

The couple announced they were divorcing in 2007, after the church came under financial scrutiny for the couple's failure to repay a $170,000 loan from an elderly widow, money borrowed in 1995 as a down payment on a house.

Advocates dispute prison censorship

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Prisoner and free-speech advocates are demanding a written guarantee that inmates at a Virginia jail can receive letters containing religious material after a prisoner said his mail was censored.

The American Civil Liberties Union, its Virginia chapter and several other civil, religious and prisoner rights organizations sent a letter to Rappahannock Regional Jail Superintendent Joseph Higgs Jr. requesting that the issue be resolved without litigation.

Anna Williams, whose son was detained at the jail for several months, said officials cut out entire sections of several letters she sent to her son that contained Bible verses or religious material. She said the jail cited prohibitions on Internet material and religious material sent from home.

"Obviously for security issues the right to practice religion while incarcerated is a balancing act to some extent, but that can't possibly apply to a mother sending religious passages to her son," said Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.

'No Religion' sign causing debate

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A billboard that was put up by the Alabama Freethought Association is causing debate, with some saying the sign reading "Imagine No Religion" is offensive and should be removed.