COLUMBIA, S.C. — Multiple South Carolina churches are taking their parent denomination to the S.C. Supreme Court to try to get out from under its jurisdiction and keep their church holdings intact.

The lawsuit was filed this week by the Methodist Church of Simpsonville, with its pastor and chair of the church council named as individual ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge denied Friday a request by 27 organizations representing Christian and Jewish denominations to block a policy from President Donald Trump’s administration that allows for immigration enforcement agents to enter houses of worship without a warrant.

The ruling comes less than two months after a different federal...Read more

MIAMI -- For many South Florida Jews, Passover is a holiday marked by spending time with family and friends, observing long held traditions and of course, eating festive food. As many sit down to their Seder meals Saturday night, one Broward organization is remembering those who struggle to put food on the table.

The Dorit & Ben J. Genet ...Read more

A majority of Americans said they don’t think states should be required to provide funding for religious charter schools, according to a new poll.

Fifty-seven percent of U.S. adults said states can refuse to fund religious charter schools, while 43% said states are required to do so, according to a poll published this week by Marquette Law ...Read more

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp signed a “religious liberty” measure Friday, resolving a decade-long debate over a divisive measure that supporters say protects faith-based beliefs from government overreach and critics decry as a license to discriminate.

The Republican inked the bill at a brief signing ceremony at the state Capitol as lawmakers...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Clergy from across Philadelphia erected an altar in front of ICE headquarters on Thursday, decorating it with fruit, flowers and crosses in a prayerful protest against the Trump administration’s decision to let agents make immigration arrests in churches.

The demonstration spilled off the sidewalk and onto Eighth Street in ...Read more

ATLANTA — After a decade of fierce debate, Georgia approved one of the most divisive bills in recent state history by passing a “religious liberty” measure that supporters say protects faith-based beliefs from government overreach and critics decry as a license to discriminate.

Republicans muscled the initiative through the Georgia House ...Read more

RICHMOND, Va. — The General Assembly started about two hours late at its reconvened session Wednesday because of an apparent discord over a judicial nomination for a Virginia Beach court.

The drama started when the confirmations, expected to be passed in both chambers quickly, ground to a halt, apparently over conflict surrounding Aaron Kass,...Read more

A majority of people in most religious traditions support abortion being legal in the U.S., as do most Americans, a new poll found.

However, four major religious groups — Hispanic Protestants, Latter-day Saints, white evangelical Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses — for the most part believe abortion should be illegal, according to an ...Read more

In a moment defined by fracture and division, a surprising development has emerged in America's religious landscape. The decades-long decline of Christianity is leveling off.

According to new research from the Pew Research Center, the share of Americans identifying as Christian has stabilized at around 62% — a dramatic shift from previous ...Read more

A physical altercation inside the Kansas Statehouse on Friday ended with Capitol Police arresting Satanic church leader Michael Stewart, capping off a morning of inflammatory religious demonstration.

Stewart punched a man who repeatedly attempted to rip a booklet out of his hands while he called out to Satan from the Capitol’s first-floor ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One by one, the speakers walked up to the small table early Wednesday, then sat and faced the panel of lawmakers in front of them.

Several came from across the country — Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas. For some, it was their first time in the Missouri Capitol building.

They came to testify in support of two ...Read more

CHICAGO — In many Catholic parishes, people are gathering for Friday night fish fries because they abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent. In Muslim homes, people are gathering every evening for iftar dinners to break their sunrise-to-sunset fast from all food and drink, including water, during the holy month of Ramadan.

Lent, the 40...Read more

CHICAGO — A West Side man was talking to his imprisoned cousin in 2013 when he allegedly floated the idea of adding him to a string of bogus sexual abuse allegations filed against defrocked Chicago Catholic priest Daniel McCormack, court records show.

“I think I want to put you on these cases now,” the man told his cousin, who at the time...Read more