NEW ORLEANS (RNS) A federal appeals court smacked down the Louisiana funeral board's continued attempts to prevent a group of Catholic monks from selling their hand-crafted caskets. By Richard A. Webster.

(RNS) When Billy Graham embraced Mormonism, he confirmed conservative evangelicals’ worst fears about the 2012 election: That Mitt Romney’s rise would lift his Mormon church to mainstream acceptance. By Daniel Burke. 

VATICAN CITY (RNS) A traditionalist Catholic breakaway group expelled Bishop Richard Williamson, who in 2009 sparked a major crisis in Jewish-Catholic relations for denying the Holocaust shortly before Pope Benedict XVI readmitted him to the church. By Alessandro Speciale.

Would the "Mormon mafia" try to revive torture? Do porn stars really believe in God or just like to shout his name a lot? And did the American who hired the pope's butler just get promoted, demoted, or both? All that and more in today's Religion News Roundup.

WASHINGTON (RNS) The largest slice of Obama’s religious coalition -- at 23 percent --  is not very religious. They’re “nones,” also known as unaffiliated voters, according to a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute. By Lauren Markoe.

(RNS) Is it a sin not to vote? Or a virtue? Some disappointed Christians on both sides of the aisle -- especially evangelicals and Catholics -- are advocating the merits of boycotting the ballot box on Nov. 6. By David Gibson.

JERUSALEM (RNS) Jews from Manhattan to Mozambique held prayer vigils on Monday (Oct. 22) to protest the arrest and incarceration of an Israeli feminist as she was leading 250 American Jewish women in prayer at the Western Wall. By Michele Chabin.

SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) Rather than wait for possible excommunication from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormon blogger David Twede has resigned his membership. By Peggy Fletcher Stack.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict's former butler could serve time in a Vatican jail, unless the pope pardons him in the next few days, according to the full text of his conviction sentence in the Vatileaks trial. By Alessandro Speciale.

(RNS) I understand that older folks have a hard time letting go. We were once the repository of fresh ideas, exciting dreams, and change-the-world aspirations. But the fact is, at some point the youth deserve to be heard. After all, they are even more legion than we are -- and they are dreaming the new dreams. By Tom Ehrich.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) Church leaders are pressing the Kenyan government to scientifically test herbal medicines that are growing in popularity, concerned that HIV/AIDS patients are widely using the medicines and potentially putting their lives at risk. By Fredrick Nzwili.

BERGHOLZ, Ohio (RNS) A month after a federal jury convicted a rogue Amish bishop and 15 followers of hate crimes for beard-cutting attacks, the tiny Amish community here continues on, tightly bonded and unwavering, yet troubled by fears of the future. By John Caniglia.

Tim Tebow tries for a trademark. Mormon mission applications skyrocket after the LDS Church lowers age requirements. And Election Day Communion seeks to heal the rifts between the faithful of all political persuasions.

(RNS) Billy Graham has been featured in ads supporting a North Carolina anti-gay marriage referendum and supporting “biblical values” in the upcoming national election. Why has the famed evangelist – who has said he learned hard lessons about being too political – getting so involved in the 2012 elections? By Adelle M. Banks.

(RNS) About 300 churches are preparing for a new tradition: Election Day Communion, when people of every political stripe will leave their respective partisan bunkers and line up side by side to receive the sacrament on Election Day. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.