My friend and colleague Charles Haynes would like the atheists who have been insisting on erecting anti-religious winter solstice displays to declare victory and go away. They've established their right to be there. I don't think that's going to work.

(RNS) For the first time, a female Muslim scholar has won the prestigious Grawemeyer award. By Omar Sacirbey.  

(RNS) An atheist student group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has scored nearly $70,000 in funding, a national record for a campus atheist group. By Kimberly Winston.

I know it's old hat to say "keep Christ in Christmas," yada yada, but I find that this time of year I need a daily reminder that the month of December is about more than just decking the halls. Here are five daily devotional suggestions I like for the holiday season.

Vampires are on the loose in Serbia, apparently. Pastafarians are waiting for the Flying Spaghetti Monster to drop some marinara sauce down the chimney, and the Vatican says conservative and liberal Catholics are both heretics (sort of).

In looking at the final tally of votes for Palestine at the UN (138 for, 9 against, and 41 abstaining), I realize that on this issue, the United States (and Canada) are on the wrong side of a worldwide revolution of values, as Dr. King taught us.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) The former rector of the nation's largest Episcopal church has become a Roman Catholic. By Greg Garrison. 

ST. LOUIS (RNS) A federal appeals court in St. Louis on Wednesday temporarily blocked the enforcement of the 2010 health care reform law's contraception mandate while a St. Louis business owner appeals a lower court's ruling. By Robert Patrick.

CANTERBURY, England (RNS) A key panel within the Church of England has said church leaders must find a way to hold a second vote next summer to allow women to serve as bishops. By Trevor Grundy.

(RNS) Jewish and Christian leaders are trying to revive a decade-old roundtable on Israel that's now in danger of falling apart after 15 Christian clergy asked Congress to investigate U.S. aid to Israel. By Lauren Markoe.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican newspaper criticized media coverage of Pope Benedict's latest book on Jesus, saying that misdirected attention on minor remarks on Christmas traditions oveshadowed the pontiff's key message. By Alessandro Speciale.

(RNS) New research shows that Catholics report the lowest proportion of strongly affiliated followers among major American religious traditions. Evangelicals, on the other hand, are increasingly devout and committed to their faith. By David Gibson.

(RNS) Evangelical women may not want their peers to read the steamy novel "Fifty Shades of Grey." But they do want them to talk about the best-seller -- and the detrimental effects they believe it could have on their marriages. By Adelle M. Banks.

(RNS) Ever since President Obama won re-election, more than 700,000 Americans have petitioned the White House to let their respective states secede. Observers say those leading the charge are framing it in terms that suggest a deep-seated religious impulse for purity-through-separation is flaring up once again. This time, it’s playing out on a political stage. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.

Hey, you! Mormon woman with the minivan. Does visiting teaching bog you down with miles of guilt? Do you pretend to have a fussy toddler when it's time for the annual visiting teaching conference, just so you can stay in the hall? When If you read the Ensign's monthly visiting teaching message to your assigned sister, do you feel like you're not measuring up and hope like hell you don't make her feel that way, too?