LOS ANGELES — She was a clever girl, a daughter of retailers, who thought she had been born too late. The civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s inspired her. But Sharon Brous grew up in the age of Reagan, hedge funds and indifference. By the time she reached rabbinical school, Brous had many questions. All of them big and centering ...Read more

BOSTON — According to scientists at the Vatican, “the Climate Crisis is upon us” and it will get worse before it gets better.

In light of that disconcerting finding and at the invitation of the Pope, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Bay State Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer, and UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suá...Read more

An arrest has been made nearly two weeks after an Islamic center at Rutgers University was broken into and vandalized.

Jacob Beacher, 24, of New Brunswick, N.J., has been arrested and charged with one count of damage to religious property and one count of making false statements to federal authorities, the Rutgers University Police Department ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In the wake of a court decision that struck down key statutes governing Alaska's public homeschooling programs, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Wednesday that he would not immediately seek to advance new statutes or regulations ensuring the programs can continue.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman ruled last week that the ...Read more

MIAMI -- On the outside, the Miami Lakes church looks like any other house of God, perhaps plainer than most.

The unassuming white exterior, topped by a tall bronze dome that peeks over the Palmetto Expressway, offers no hint that stepping into Christ the Saviour Orthodox Cathedral is like entering a glorious gallery of religious art — but ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Diocese of Brooklyn and state Attorney General Letitia James reached a settlement Tuesday on a host of reforms to address accusations of years of mismanaging allegations into priests who were accused of sexual abuse.

Those reforms include the installation of a secular monitor to oversee how the diocese will handle allegations ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It started with good intentions.

When a Jewish temple in the San Fernando Valley opened its doors to Muslims for the holy month of Ramadan, its rabbis hoped to offer a model of interfaith outreach.

“There is more that unites us than divides us,” Rabbis Stewart Vogel and Richard Camras wrote in an email to Hamakom L.A.’s ...Read more

BALTIMORE — As a young girl, Eva Dittrich sought forgiveness during confession at her Catholic church in Baltimore County because her grandfather was molesting her at home.

Her priest, Father Joseph Maskell, responded by telling her she was “a whore,” but that he would “try to cleanse me of my sins in private counseling sessions,” ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — For over four years, Andrés Arenas has been serving as a spiritual leader and musical director at Iglesia Vida Nueva, a Pentecostal church in West Tampa, where the congregation mainly consists of families from Latin America.

In 2019, Arenas came from Bucaramanga, in north-central Colombia, accompanied by his wife, to support ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Candlelight flickered across Maham Rizvi’s face as she adorned a chestnut-brown coffee table with different mementos: "A River Dies of Thirst," the collection of writings by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish; "Moon and Sun," a poetry book by the Sufi Muslim poet Rumi; a bowl of colorful Turkish soft candies surrounded by ...Read more

ST. JOHN, Ind. — Frank Schilling stood at the highest point at the Shrine of Christ’s Passion in St. John on Good Friday overlooking the prayer trail where the Stations of the Cross were being led by the Most Rev. Bishop Robert J. McClory.

Schilling was trying to count the sea of people who packed the winding prayer trail almost from the ...Read more

NEW YORK — It was a very Good Friday for Mayor Eric Adams, who was baptized with inmates at the Rikers Island jail in what he said was a recommitment to the city and to his faith.

“This is Resurrection Sunday coming up,” Adams told the New York Daily News just two days before Easter, the holiest day on the Christian calendar. “We should...Read more

ST. JOHN, Ind. — Frank Schilling stood at the highest point at the Shrine of Christ’s Passion in St. John on Good Friday overlooking the prayer trail where the Stations of the Cross were being led by the Most Rev. Bishop Robert J. McClory.

Schilling was trying to count the sea of people who packed the winding prayer trail almost from the ...Read more

The nation's largest Muslim civil rights organization is demanding action and an apology from the city of San Bruno, California, after Muslim constituents were not allowed to break fast or pray inside San Bruno City Hall while attending a City Council meeting.

The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — Some Clovis parents say a Christian group is trying to indoctrinate their children during lunchtime, lured to pray and talk about Jesus Christ by being offered free pizza.

Three parents with children attending Reyburn Intermediate and Clovis East High schools said their children were offered free pizza to go to the lecture ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Survivors of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore will be able to testify about their torment during two hearings in April and May, a judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle M. Harner granted a request by the committee representing survivors in the bankruptcy case to allow victims to speak for two hours ...Read more

BALTIMORE — If survivors of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Baltimore have the opportunity to testify at two hearings in bankruptcy court about their torment, Archbishop William Lori will be there to listen.

Lori, leader of America’s oldest archdiocese, “will personally attend on both occasions to hear directly from the ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Survivors of sexual abuse committed by clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore may have an opportunity to describe their suffering in bankruptcy court, and say they struck an agreement with the church to have Archbishop William Lori there to hear them.

The committee assigned to represent all survivors of clergy abuse in the diocese...Read more