Graffiti on a church is a good thing? The Pat Robertson School of Theodicy gets deconstructed in the wake of the Oklahoma tornadoes, and Pope Francis has some stern words for believers who don’t see the good in others. “To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy.”
DUBLIN (RNS) After 32 years as an interior designer, Patricia Wojnar went back to school for a master’s degree in bereavement studies, a hot commodity in Ireland’s “post-Catholic” economy that features growing markets for wedding and funeral officiants who aren’t associated with the scandal-scarred Catholic Church.
(RNS) Religious historians say that every 500 years, Christianity goes through a “massive transition,” as Phyllis Tickle puts it. We aren’t likely to comprehend this latest transition until it is further along. But two things are clear: Christianity in North America is being freed from its own roots, and Christianity no longer controls the flow.
(RNS) In a move that could add to the tension between religion and science, the American Psychiatric Association changed a controversial diagnosis regarding how grief relates to mental health, rekindling a debate about whether spirituality or medicine offers the best pathway out of bereavement.
WASHINGTON (RNS) The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the Greece (N.Y.) Town Board violated the separation of church and state when it repeatedly used Christian clergy to conduct prayers at the start of its public meetings.
BEIRUT (RNS) Religious police units enforce a strict form of Islamic rule in parts of Syria, such banning alcohol sales and requiring conservative dress for women.
LOS ANGELES (RNS) After he stopped attending Catholic Mass as a freshman in high school, Matt Maher never expected to have a career as a Catholic musician with crossover appeal for evangelicals.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal orders Bibles returned to state park resorts. The American Family Association says the AARP has a “homosexual agenda.” The anti-Shariah movement is changing.
(RNS) After losing steam in recent years, the anti-Shariah movement has scored a string of victories by, ironically, leaving the words “Shariah” and “Islam” out of bills that restrict state courts from considering foreign law.
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.
