Religious Articles

(RNS) — The New York City Council passed a bill Thursday (March 26) calling for buffer zones around places of worship in an attempt to protect them from rowdy protesters. But the bill that passed with a solid majority, 44-5, with one abstention, was a watered-down...

NEW YORK (RNS) — In October 2021, two months after Matthew LaBanca married his husband, he was fired from his job at a Queens Catholic elementary school, St. Joseph Catholic Academy.  Also fired from his role directing music at Corpus Christi Church in Queens,...

(RNS) — Seven years since first airing, the mega-hit biographical Jesus drama “The Chosen” is a full-fledged franchise. The evidence? An annual multi-day convention (Chosen Con), merch (hoodies, coloring books, jewelry), the fandom (over 308 million viewers) and now,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, hosting his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, prayed Wednesday to have “every round find its mark.” “Every month it is fitting to be right here,” he told the gathered...

(RNS) — Businessman Prakash Buchireddy grew up in small villages near Tirupati, India, a hillside pilgrimage site surrounded by lush green mountains and a Hindu temple once known to give potted plants as prasad, or sacred offerings. These self-sustaining villages of...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV will travel on Saturday (March 28) from Vatican City, the world’s smallest country, to Monaco, the second smallest — linking two Catholic states whose global influence far exceeds their size. In a one-day trip totaling nine hours, Leo...

CANTERBURY, England (AP) — The new archbishop of Canterbury knocked three times on the doors of the city’s great cathedral on Wednesday, ceremonially demanding to be allowed inside in a tradition laid down over centuries by each new leader of the Church of England....

(RNS) — Support for President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration has dropped across all religious groups over the past year, with approval plummeting among white nonevangelicals or mainline Protestants, according to a new survey by the Public Religion Research...

(RNS) — When Hasan Hammad created a Facebook page for his Baltimore-area mosque in 2011, his goal was to expand the ways community members could learn about its programming — not to one day attract millions of views. But over the last few years, the Islamic Society of...

DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — Mohsen Kadivar follows the war in Iran with a growing sense of déjà vu. A research professor of Islamic studies at Duke University, he has been living in exile from his native Iran for 18 years. A staunch critic of the regime in Tehran and an...

(RNS) — “Are you a starseed? Do you feel like you’re an old soul?” asked influencer Elizabeth April, smiling with understanding in an Instagram video on Feb. 13, 2020. “Well, you’re definitely not alone, because there are many of us out there, and we’re all...

LONDON (AP) — British police hunted three suspects on Tuesday over an arson attack on a Jewish charity’s ambulances and pledged to step up security around a community that feels increasingly at risk. The blaze in Golders Green, a London neighborhood with a large...