For weeks, Lebanese Baptists and other Christians have been housing, feeding - and loving - hundreds of mostly Shiite Muslim families driven from their homes in Beirut?s southern suburbs and towns farther south by the battles between Hezbollah guerrillas and the Israeli military.

During normal times, the two groups might never encounter one another, much less form friendships, in Lebanon?s uneasy mix of religious and ethnic factions. But these aren?t normal times.

Erich Bridge, Baptist Press, Aug 3, 2006

Christians in Gaza protested on Thursday against the ongoing Israeli military escalation and war in Palestine and Lebanon, and called for a just peace in the region. The protesters called for direct aid to the victims of the Israeli military aggression.

The protest was held in the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City on Thursday. Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyya, from the ruling Hamas movement, and several Palestinians officials, participated in the protest.

Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center - Friday, 28 July 2006

The director of a Christian School in Nazareth writes about his experience and thinking after a week of war in the region and few missiles hitting Nazareth last evening.

Terrifying experiences like that of Missiles coming down from the sky close to where you live have a tendency of making you raise ?purpose driven? questions: Did Jesus put us in His hometown randomly without purpose?

By Botrus Mansour, Special for Come and See, July 20, 2006

The only Christian player in Iran's national soccer team has been named "Christian star of the World Cup" in a poll undertaken by a Dutch ecumenical Christian group.

Andranik Teymourian, a 23-year-old midfielder, received 31.3 per cent of votes in the online contest, organized by Gristelijk, a group of Protestant and Roman Catholic teachers and lecturers, out of a shortlist of 11 leading Christian soccer players.

Spero News, July 18, 2006

A hotel in Israel owned by the Church of Scotland has been forced to close during the crisis.

The Scots Hotel is in the resort of Tiberias, where Hizbollah rockets landed on Saturday. It was closed after guests fled the area, many to Jerusalem, after a second attack hit the city in the evening.

STEWART PATERSON, The Herald, July 17, 2006

War and cruise ships, military helicopters and charter planes, cars and buses: for foreigners, everything is good just to get out of Beirut. But not everyone can leave. For Filipinos and displaced Lebanese, monasteries, religious houses and schools are opening their doors regardless of religion.

At a special chapter of Mariamite Maronite Order presided by its superior, Abbot Seman Abou Abdo, with his fellow leaders, the issue was at the top of the agenda. They studied the situation of the Mariamites in light of the orientation laid down by the patriarchal synod.

Aisa News, July 17, 2006

The events of the last few days could bring about the collapse of the tourism industry, in what had looked like a record year for tourism up to now.

The hotels and guesthouses in the north emptied out on Friday and Saturday, and travel agencies began to receive cancellations from abroad.

Irit Rosenblum, Haaretz, July 17, 2006

Prisoners are likely to be transferred from Megiddo Prison to make way for archaeologists and tourists, after the discovery of an ancient Christian prayer house - considered the oldest in the world - at the site last year.

In the spring of next year, the first stage of a new plan will be implemented and the four-dunam area of the prayer house will be placed outside the prison boundaries and opened to the public.

A plan to develop the site, which is in Wadi Ara, is shortly expected to be approved by the government.

By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz, July 10, 2006

Biblical history flows through the nation of Jordan, from the cave where Lot is said to have lived after his wife turned into a pillar of salt to the archaeological park where many believe John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

Abraham passed this way as he traveled from Mesopotamia to Canaan, and Moses climbed Mount Nebo to look out upon the Promised Land. In Jordan's northwest corner at Umm Qais, called Gadara in the New Testament, Jesus performed the miracle of the Gadarene swine. Near Amman is the legendary Cave of the Seven Sleepers, where legend holds that several persecuted Christian boys found shelter and slept there for 309 years.

By Cecile S. Holmes, July 7, 2006 - Religion News Service