ASHEVILLE, N.C. (RNS) In the days following Thanksgiving, there's already Black Friday and Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday to kick off the holiday shopping season. Now, a group of charities and corporate sponsors is urging Americans to make the Tuesday after Thanksgiving just as powerful a day of giving to those in need. By John Ostendorff / USA Today.

“Pardon me,” said the Turkey. “It’s almost Thanksgiving.” Wish to be granted, though just one of these two birds, Cobbler or Gobbler, will be the full-fledged National Thanksgiving Turkey, and the White House is letting you vote for the winner. PETA doesn’t like the turkey pardon photo op, not one bit.

One way to gauge how the Republican Party's is evolving since the election is to see what its 2016 presidential hopefuls have to say about the pre-election litmus test issues.

(RNS) Self-described "faitheist" Chris Stedman calls for atheists and the religious to come together in interfaith work. It is a position that has earned him both strident - even violent -  condemnation and high praise. In an interview with RNS, Stedman talks about how and why the religious and atheists should work together. By Kimberly Winston.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) With hundreds of movies and novels devoted to their crimes and intrigues, the Borgias are probably the most controversial family in the history of the papacy. But a new book, drawing on documents from the Vatican Secret Archive, tries to cast the Renaissance dynasty in a new light and dispel the "black legend" surrounding it. By Alessandro Speciale

(RNS) Muslims and Jews are together feeding the hungry this Thanksgiving season in an effort to improve Muslim-Jewish relations and answer both faiths' call to nourish the needy. By Lauren Markoe.

LONDON (RNS) In a surprise move that shocked both sides of a years-long debate, the Church of England on Tuesday (Nov. 20) rejected an expected move to allow women bishops, preserving the church's status as one of the last bastions of male privilege in the United Kingdom. By Trevor Grundy.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Just in time for Christmas, the Vatican on Tuesday (Nov. 20) released a new book by Pope Benedict XVI focused on Jesus' birth and childhood, the final installment of his trilogy on the life of Jesus. By Alessandro Speciale.

(RNS) The release of the new Steven Spielberg movie "Lincoln" has resurrected more than the physical presence of America's 16th president. It has also brought to the fore again questions about his faith. Was he a Christian? Was he an atheist? By Kimberly Winston.

NEW YORK (RNS) Establishment Christianity has taken inordinate satisfaction in our occasional mission work among the needy, but not challenged each other to seek transformation of life. When we should have been proclaiming the gospel that Jesus actually preached, we were building an institution that depended on not offending the wealthy. By Tom Ehrich. 

(RNS) A long-running struggle between church authorities and the Rev. Roy Bourgeois over the Catholic priest’s support for ordaining women has ended with Bourgeois’ dismissal from the priesthood and his religious order, the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. By David Gibson.

This first short post in a five-part series aims to help authors avoid five all-too-common pitfalls that can instantly derail their query letters. First up: "God told me to write this book."

(RNS) A federal judge on Monday (Nov. 19) denied a bid by churches to force city officials in Santa Monica, Calif., to reopen spaces in a city park to private displays, including life-sized Christmas Nativity scenes. By Doug Stanglin.

Some California editors make Romney an angel. The judge who sentenced a teen to church services defends himself. And Marco Rubio gets a pointed question on creationism and  . . . err . . .  ummm . . . well . . . 

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (RNS) A district judge in Oklahoma who sentenced a 17-year-old boy to 10 years of church attendance is standing by his sentence as the right thing to do -- even if it may not have been the constitutional thing to do. By Greg Horton.