(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. 

Pope Benedict XVI canonizes the first Native American saint. Foreign policy takes center stage in presidential debate. The Gender Gap. 

(RNS) The Diocese of South Carolina announced on Wednesday (Oct. 17) that it has disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church, escalating a long-running skirmish and setting the stage to become the fifth diocese to secede from the national church. By Daniel Burke. 

(RNS) The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association removed language labeling Mormonism a “cult” from its website after the famed evangelist met with Mitt Romney last week and pledged to help the GOP presidential nominee’s campaign. By Daniel Burke. 

SNL satirizes the Catholic VP debate. Remembering Arlen Specter. Is Apple's logo blasphemous? 

(RNS) A majority of Protestant pastors plan to vote for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, according to a new survey, but nearly a quarter are still undecided less than four weeks from Election Day. By Daniel Burke.

(RNS) When Joe Biden and Paul Ryan face off in the vice-presidential debate on Thursday, it will mark the first showdown of its kind between Catholics on the major party tickets. By Daniel Burke and David Gibson.

(RNS) The number of Americans not affiliated with any religion has hit an all-time high. We asked religious leaders to give us the reasons behind the eye-popping statistics.  

Catholics are more likely to credit Columbus with discovering America. Mormons lowered the age for missionaries. The Catholic and Episcopal bishops of San Francisco are not off to a friendly start. 

BETHESDA, Md. (RNS) With voters focused intently on pocketbook issues, both Mitt Romney and President Obama are framing their faith-outreach efforts around the economy as the presidential campaign enters its final weeks. By Daniel Burke and David Gibson.

(RNS) Conservatives are circulating a 2007 video in which then-presidential candidate Barack Obama praises his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and suggests that racism played a role in the federal government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina. By Daniel Burke. 

Social conservatives rally at Independece Hall. Our most religious president. Jesus' Wife tevee special delayed until further tests. 

(RNS) Mitt Romney has finally found a religious middle ground, evangelical leaders say, by sidelining Mormon theology and stressing the “Judeo-Christian values” that he shares with social conservatives. By Daniel Burke.

Tweeting our sins. Mormons fast for Romney. Obama surges with Catholic voters. Madonna's irony. 

(RNS) President Obama’s support among Catholic voters has surged since June, according to a new poll, despite the Catholic bishops’ religious freedom campaign and the naming of Paul Ryan, a Catholic, as the GOP's vice-presidential nominee. By Daniel Burke.