A third-party organization brought in by the Southern Baptist Convention to investigate allegations of systemic sexual abuse within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination found its leaders ignored and even “vilified” the victims, and knew more about the perpetrators than they admitted. The abuses occurred over a two-decade period, ...Read more

Top leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention mishandled sexual abuse claims, while ignoring — or even vilifying — victims to protect abusers, an explosive new report released Sunday has found.

The report is the conclusion of a seven-month investigation by Guidepost Solutions, an independent company that was contracted by SBC’s executive...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- As a crowd gathered outside City Hall in downtown Orlando to rally a day after a draft of a Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked, Rev. Margalie Belizaire joined them to demand that the nation’s abortion rights remain intact.

The demonstrators needed to see her there, said Belizaire, minister at First ...Read more

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone announced Friday that Rep. Nancy Pelosi will be barred from receiving Communion in response to her push to codify abortion rights, underscoring the nation’s widening divisions as the Supreme Court considers whether to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

His statement marks the latest clash between ...Read more

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone announced Friday that Rep. Nancy Pelosi will be barred from receiving Communion in response to her push to codify abortion rights, underscoring the nation’s widening divisions as the Supreme Court considers whether to overturn Roe v. Wade.

His statement marks the latest clash between Cordileone...Read more

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone announced Friday that Rep. Nancy Pelosi will not be admitted to receive Communion in response to her push to codify abortion rights, underscoring the nation's widening divisions as the U.S. Supreme Court consider whether to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

His statement marks the latest clash between ...Read more

Frank Wilczek has a special fondness for rainbows.

It's not just the show-stopping, full-arc-across-the-sky rainbows that catch the Nobel laureate's eye. He's equally transfixed by the array of color that shows up on soap bubbles, in sprays of water and in prisms.

"There are rainbows all over the place, once you start paying attention," he ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Christian school in Louisville gave an assignment this week asking middle school students to write a letter to a hypothetical friend warning against homosexuality, resulting in public criticism and a review by school leaders.

The Christian Academy of Louisville School System assignment calls for a seventh grader to write a ...Read more

The imminent overturning of Roe v. Wade is a disaster for women. It is also a disaster for the Catholic Church, whose hierarchy in America has made opposition to abortion central to its mission.

The American Catholic Church is deeply divided, and the bishops’ obsession with matters of gender and sexuality is driving these rifts. Most American...Read more

BALTIMORE -- It has been an agonizingly long time since the members of Baltimore’s two oldest Reform Jewish temples have been able to worship as well and as fully as they’d like.

Membership at Har Sinai Congregation and Temple Oheb Shalom dwindled for years, and with it their prospects for long-term survival. They considered merging five ...Read more

On April 25, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, about a public school football coach who pressured his players to pray with him at the 50-yard line. The court’s conservative majority seemed to signal support for the coach.

It’s an important case for a nation where religious freedom ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina churches can stay open during a crisis, even amid a pandemic like COVID-19, under a bill Gov. Henry McMaster signed on Tuesday.

The bill prohibits the state from closing churches and other places of worship during a state of emergency if other essential services are allowed to operate. However, the state can ...Read more

BELL, Calif. — The scent of shawarma and rice floated through the Mediterranean fusion restaurant during the lunchtime rush as servers brought heaping plates of meat, hummus and pickled vegetables to hungry diners.

Ali Tehfi watched as his crew, many of them fasting for Ramadan like him, bagged orders, filled soda cups and alternated between ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Driving north on Interstate 294, Chicago-area drivers might notice a billboard that reads “My hijab, my right” featuring an illustration of a Muslim woman with her arm raised to make a fist. The ad is part of a campaign organized by local Islamic organizations to raise awareness of the violation of the freedom of religion right of...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- The Sisters of St. Basil never put out so much as a leaflet seeking donations for Ukraine.

It wasn’t necessary. Stuff simply started showing up.

Sleeping bags. Medicines. Clothing. Children’s games. Socks for soldiers. Baby bottles, wipes, diapers and strollers, walkers and wheelchairs, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, ...Read more

HOLLAND, Mich. — Growing up in this small town near the western edge of Michigan, Christy Berghoef learned to live by a simple rule.

"To be Christian is to be Republican is to be 'pro-life,'" she said recently, sitting in a renovated shed-turned-office behind her house on the 40-acre farm of willows and gladiolus where she was raised. "All ...Read more

MIAMI -- What can get millennials and Gen Z-ers to pause Netflix and avoid Instagram?

For some teens and young adults, it’s the call of Jesus.

A 13-year-old says she found God through break-dancing. A 29-year-old who was “church hurt” is using music to help welcome others into his parish. And a group of college students said preparing ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Maria Fedachtchin’s fingers trembled a bit as she etched the first intricate lines of beeswax along the smooth, unblemished shell of an egg cradled in her palm.

She’s learning to design pysanky, the ornately decorated traditional Easter eggs of Ukraine, where the 60-year-old was born and lived until her 1991 immigration to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Muslim children typically aren't expected to fast during Ramadan until they reach puberty. But often kids will want to start earlier because they see everyone else abstaining from food and water from sunrise to sunset — followed by their community gathering to break their fast together — and they want to participate.

"I ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Last year, Maqsood Maqsoud celebrated Ramadan, a time of reflection, piety and charity, in the city of Kabul, where he grew up.

He heard the adhan, the call to prayer, broadcast from a nearby mosque. He broke his daily Ramadan fast with dates in the two-story compound where he lived with his parents, younger brothers, wife and ...Read more