WASHINGTON (RNS) Conservative religious and political groups held rallies across the U.S. on Friday to protest the Obama administration's assault on "religious freedom" in a new plan to mandate that employers provide contraception coverage for employees. By Chris Lisee.

WASHINGTON (RNS) Episcopal bishops are asking the president to intervene after a UN agency allegedly cut support for a church-run hospital in the Gaza Strip. By Chris Lisee.

WASHINGTON (RNS) One of the biggest growth areas in political activism around religion is coming from an unlikely source: the nonreligious. And it's happening far from the marbled corridors of power in the nation's capital. Kimberly Winston tells why.

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) For nearly a year, the Rev. Patrick Conroy has been chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, which The New York Times called "one of the most reviled congregations in the country." By Nancy Haught.

(RNS) A distinctive way of being Christian in the public square — a softer, less partisan way — is emerging. And this cultural change could be the very thing our faith needs to survive. By Jonathan Merritt.

(RNS) The Secular Coalition for America's new leader is a Republican lobbyist who has worked for two Republican presidents and four Republican senators. Here's why she got the job. By Kimberly Winston.

WASHINGTON (RNS) A new White House report that offers guidance on public/private partnerships between the government and faith-based groups leaves critical questions unanswered and does not resolve the issue of religious groups' ability to discriminate in hiring and firing, church-state watchdogs said.

As millions of Americans bow their heads for the annual National Day of Prayer, atheists, humanists and other nontheists will mark the National Day of Reason _ part protest, part celebration and purely godless. By Kimberly Winston.

(RNS) House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan argues that GOP proposals to cut programs for the needy while sparing the Defense Department and taxes on the wealthy is in line with Catholic social teaching, but experts across the Catholic spectrum say Ryan gets it wrong. By David Gibson.

WASHINGTON (RNS) House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan largely ducked questions and scrutiny about whether the GOP budget is rooted in Catholic social teaching during a speech at Georgetown University. By Lauren Markoe.

(RNS) House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is headed to Georgetown University to deliver a lecture on Thursday, and already faculty are lining up to join the Catholic bishops in rejecting any suggestion that his cost-cutting budget reflects Catholic principles. By David Gibson.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) A senior Vatican official on Tuesday (April 17) called for stronger protection for conscientious objection for both the Catholic Church and individual Catholics when they are faced with laws that conflict with their “moral norms.” By Alessandro Speciale.

WASHINGTON (RNS) A week after Republican congressman Paul Ryan claimed his Catholic faith inspired the cost-cutting budget plan passed by the House, the nation’s Catholic bishops reiterated their demands that the budget protect the poor and said the GOP measure "fails to meet these moral criteria." By David Gibson.

(RNS) The nation’s Catholic bishops are calling on the faithful to pray and mobilize to battle what they see as a series of threats to religious freedom, and they are setting aside the two weeks before July 4 as the centerpiece of their "Fortnight for Freedom" campaign. By David Gibson.

WASHINGTON (RNS) More than 50 Muslim and other civic groups implored Congress Thursday (April 12) to rescind the appointment of Zuhdi Jasser, a controversial Muslim activist, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. By Lauren Markoe.