Lauren Markoe covered government and features as a daily newspaper reporter for 15 years before joining the Religion News Service staff in 2011. She was Washington correspondent for The State (Columbia, S.C.), where she won a 2004 first prize for feature writing from the National Association of Black Journalists. She also covered government for the Charlotte Observer and the Massachusetts statehouse for the Patriot Ledger. Markoe holds B.A. in history from Yale University and an M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
WASHINGTON (RNS) Watchdogs say the State Department missed a key opportunity to put teeth into its annual assessment of global religious freedom, which was released by Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday.
Civil rights groups charge the NYPD cast a very wide net in its spying on Muslims. Hold on to your wallet in the Sistine Chapel. Did Pope Francis just perform an exorcism?
WASHINGTON (RNS) “Faith leaders have a remarkable opportunity to shift the conversation, but it’s very challenging, particularly in a larger society that wants to understand everything as a battle,” said Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
Dan Brown’s new book about hell comes out today. Christians who find the Boy Scouts too gay friendly seek alternatives. And the Vatican shows how the Roman Catholic Church is shifting to the other side of the equator.
(RNS) Growing up Catholic in England, Candida Moss felt secure in life, yet learned in church that Christians have been persecuted since the dawn of Christianity. As an adult and a theologian, she wants to set the record straight.
(RNS) An undisclosed community has accepted the body of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, which is now “entombed,” according to police in Worcester, Mass.
Delaware is the 11th gay marriage state. Three women hidden in plain sight. Billy Graham’s last crusade?
(RNS) His English is terribly broken, and punctuated by sudden fits of giggles. But for nearly an hour Tuesday, the Dalai Lama entranced an arena full of admirers at the University of Maryland, who said he conveyed his message perfectly.
No cemetery has yet agreed to bury the body of the Boston Marathon bomber. The race for chief rabbi in Israel is a doozy. And do you stretch for enlightenment, or do you just want to look good in a bathing suit?
WASHINGTON (RNS) Fifteen countries make the list of most egregious violators of religious liberty, compiled by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. But some of the most alarming oppression is committed by entities that can hardly be called countries.
