Religious Articles

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — At least 10 Palestinians were injured Sunday night in attacks in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers, who rampaged through nearby villages after holding a funeral for a settler killed in a car crash a night earlier. The Palestinian...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Crowds of Syrians rallied Sunday to protest authorities’ efforts to limit the sale and consumption of alcohol in Damascus, reflecting rising anxiety in the cosmopolitan capital that Syria’s new Islamist government may threaten long-held secular...

This article is the first in a series on faith and protest. (RNS) — Two years ago, the Rev. Quincy Worthington did not consider himself an activist. The minister of a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation in Highland Park, Illinois, he was outspoken on issues such as...

(RNS) — Steve Gaines, a Tennessee megachurch pastor who served as Southern Baptist Convention president from 2016 to 2018, died Friday (March 20), his former congregation announced. He was 68. “It’s with a heavy heart that we share with you the passing of our beloved...

(AP) – The Texas comptroller has accepted several Islamic private schools into the state’s voucher program after the institutions sued to gain admittance. Four Muslim parents and three Islamic private school providers that operate four campuses had sued Texas leaders...

(RNS) — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to allow faith leaders inside a federal holding facility near Minneapolis after the clergy were denied access earlier this year while trying to provide religious support to immigrant...

(RNS) — When the helicopter delivering Pope John Paul II to a Catholic youth festival descended into Denver’s Mile High Stadium 32 years ago, the crowd’s roar, the pilot later told papal biographer George Weigel, created turbulence he hadn’t experienced since being...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The Vatican announced a new campaign to urge divestment from mining activities, which Catholic Church leaders said enrich wealthy countries while leaving environmental damage and poverty in the Global South. “We are living in a time when humanity...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he supports a proposal to rename César Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day following stunning allegations of abuse against the revered labor leader. Political leaders in states and cities are considering similar...

BEIRUT (AP) — Back home, Lilian Jamaan would have been shopping for clothes for her daughter and buying meat and sweets in preparation for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. But now, “there’s no joy for Eid or...

ROME (AP) — A hidden cloister just a few steps from Rome’s Pantheon is a peaceful place for silent meditation — if the millions of tourists who trudge past even know it’s there. Behind the large wooden door, its frescoed walls closed to the general public reveal...

Muslim families in Texas are asking: Does school choice include us? A Houston-area father went to enroll his kids in Texas’ new school voucher program and discovered their school wasn’t on the list — along with every other Islamic school in the state. Texas launched...