Religion News Service

After closing more than 700 churches and some mosques in March, Rwandan government officials have moved to institute guidelines for how faith groups operate in the majority-Christian East African country.

For some watching (and blogging and tweeting) the debate on the floor of the Episcopal Church's triennial General Convention this week, it sounded as if someone were trying to give God a sex change.

A new study takes a novel approach to studying radicalization. The findings suggest that it may be the outgrowth of ethnic, racial or religious discrimination.

Offering Communion outside, says Stephen Blackmer, an Episcopal priest, "helps us remember that the physical and spiritual worlds are completely bound up together. It becomes easy to see how everything grows, lives, dies and is returned into the earth where it takes on a new form. Its spark of life is transformed."

President Trump has nominated U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be his Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, setting the stage for a heated confirmation battle that will likely focus on his views regarding both law and religion.

President Trump announced on Monday (July 9) that Brett Kavanaugh, 53, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is his Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement late last month.

Spirituality, whether Christian or Muslim, frequently uses the language of battle, so it is not surprising that Pope Francis promotes the Christian equivalent of a spiritual jihad. 

Nativity statues of the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, which usually mark Christmas, were incarcerated Tuesday behind a barbed-wired-topped, chain-link fence on the lawn of the cathedral of the Episcopal Church’s Indianapolis Diocese.

As the summer heat waxes and state legislative sessions wane, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation has scored a few small but significant victories.

When White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked last week about widespread religious pushback to the Trump administration’s "zero-tolerance" policy separating families along the U.S.-Mexico border, she turned the responsibility back on people of faith.

In the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandals, what seems like bad news for the church — seemingly daily headlines about clergy being disciplined — is actually good news.

Even before the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy led to the separation of families, religious groups cast a jaundiced eye on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

King Abdullah II of Jordan has won the 2018 Templeton Prize for promoting dialogue and cooperation between Muslims of differing traditions.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld President Trump's temporary ban on refugees and immigrants from a group of primarily Muslim-majority countries in a 5-4 decision, arguing it is within the executive branch's power to "suspend entry of aliens into the United States."

A multiracial, intergenerational crowd of social justice activists, union workers and people of faith gathered on the National Mall over the weekend to get marching orders for their next steps in a new Poor People's Campaign.

The Catholic University of America has become known for its adherence to what many see as conservative principles, which it enforces with what critics call unorthodox hiring practices.

A social media network is now acknowledging it needs to do more to prevent the spread of hate speech that contributed to a campaign to drive out Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority.

With the words "religious freedom" becoming ammunition in the ongoing culture wars, Catholic leaders hope a weeklong campaign titled "Serving Others in God's Love" will shift the focus more toward essential human rights and dignity.

Signs of the Times: It is ironic that the bishops — who think of themselves as teachers — have an easier time reaching agreement on their opposition to, or support of, specific government programs than in agreeing on a teaching document for their people. 

Yesenia Gonzalez immigrated to Trinidad and Tobago, the twin island Caribbean nation, from Venezuela 40 years ago when she was 18. She has raised her children and set up a successful business here.