Easter is not about some nasty death cult where a blood sacrifice must be paid to appease an angry God, says Giles Fraser. The crucifixion reveals human death-dealing at its worst and the resurrection offers a new start, refusing the logic of scapegoating.

UK-based international development agency Christian Aid has welcomed US President George Bush’s statement on the Middle East calling for ‘an end to the occupation that began in 1967’, referring to Israel and Palestinian lands.

The Bush administration has come out against the idea of equal access to Internet communications. The US Justice Department says ISPs should be able to charge a fee for “priority web traffic” – critics say this opens the door to a two-tier system divided between rich and poor.

Talk of the efficacy or otherwise of the surge is a smokescreen, says Simon Barrow. There is no long-term military solution to Iraq’s nightmare. But viable alternatives are being sought within civil society.

If the Roman Catholic Rudy Giuliani is the next Republican candidate for US president, as seems likely, says Giles Fraser, it could well mark the beginnings of a historic GOP divorce from the religious right.

The church-backed US National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is speaking out against a new executive order from President George W. Bush that broadly outlines the limits of how suspects may be questioned in the CIA's terror interrogation programme.

Gordon Brown will be less overt in his faith agenda and less establishment in his church instincts, suggests Simon Barrow. But religion and public life will remain hot political issues.

Readers of The Independent newspaper were yesterday surprised to see a paid-for advert by God urging US President Bush to stop wrecking the planet. So far no-one has claimed responsibility for the divine intervention.

A Jewish and a Christian leader in the United States have issued a joint statement to media and government calling for civility and honesty in public discourse - following what they describe as "recent political attacks using unattributed sources and based on a [presidential] candidate's childhood."