Yonat Shimron
Churches are checking sex offender registry, but is it helping?
Since they were first offered an opportunity to pool their resources and buy background checks on volunteers and employees at a discount 11 years ago, about a third of Southern Baptist churches hav...
Church opens door to syringe exchange
Sarah Howell-Miller, a United Methodist minister, was once opposed to needle exchange programs for opioid addicts—a stance shared by legislators in some three dozen states....
Covenant Church expels congregation and pastors over LGBTQ inclusion
The vote expelling the 145-year-old First Covenant Church Minneapolis was the first time the Evangelical Covenant members have removed a congregation from the denomination.
Sanctuary churches say fines against immigrants meant to sow fear
People living in sanctuary to escape deportation have received fines of up to half a million dollars.
UMC court ruling upholds restrictions on LGBTQ clergy and couples
In a separate ruling, the Judicial Council upheld an exit plan that allows churches to leave the denomination with their property.
After the catastrophic fire at Notre Dame, what might rebuilding look like?
The 12th-century cathedral was already beginning to crumble.
Three black churches in Louisiana, civil rights center in Tennessee burned down
A 21-year-old white man faces hate crimes and arson charges for the church fires, and a white supremacist symbol was spray-painted at the Highlander Center.
Yechiel Eckstein, rabbi who befriended evangelicals, dies at age 67
Through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews that Eckstein founded, evangelicals have contributed more than $1 billion to Jewish causes.
Foster care agency allowed to continue Protestants-only policy
The U.S. government recently granted faith-based foster care agencies in South Carolina an exemption to a regulation barring religious discrimination in federally funded foster care programs.
Despite claims by politicians, Muslim extremism is rare in the U.S.
Last year only 14 Muslim Americans were arrested for alleged involvement with violent extremism—and none of them entered the country illegally.
Anti-Semitic incidents persist even as U.S. Jews find greater acceptance
Recent surveys show that “the vast majority of Americans do not have negative opinions of their Jewish neighbors.”
Is religious intensity in the U.S. declining? Sociologists disagree
At the heart of the debate is a question: Is American religion exceptional?
Sanctuary church, supporters resist arrest and deportation of congregant
Samuel Oliver-Bruno was tackled by ICE agents while at a government office applying to stay in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds—and deported a week later.
Dead Sea Scroll fragments at Museum of the Bible found to be forged
Close to 70 items that have come on the market since 2002 as Dead Sea Scroll fragments appear to be suspect, one scholar said.
Hurricane-struck churches apply for FEMA aid
The possibility of federal funds paying to restore sanctuaries is a change from previous FEMA policy.
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to be first Muslim American women in Congress
Both women are seasoned organizers who emphasized economic justice among their priorities.
Study links extremism to local expressions of anti-Muslim prejudice
Sociologists and a statistician examined Internet search data provided by Google. Their findings suggest that "violent extremism results from the failure of ethnic integration."
Daniel Lehmann to be first Jewish president of Graduate Theological Union
The consortium in Berkeley, California, includes research centers and seminaries of multiple faith traditions—but has been previously led by Christians.
Employees quit American Bible Society over new sex and marriage rules
The statement of faith is the latest sign that the organization has shifted away from its ecumenical roots toward a more narrow evangelical identity.
Southern Baptists call Paige Patterson to account
Firing him as seminary president is the most dramatic example of the #MeToo movement pervading the top reaches of the Southern Baptist Convention.