Catherine Pepinster

Catherine Pepinster is an author at Religion News Service.

All Stories by Catherine Pepinster

Looking for radical solutions to decline, Church of England debates lay-led house churches

By Catherine Pepinster — July 9, 2021

LONDON (RNS) — A proposal published on the eve of the Church of England's General Synod shows the growing influence of evangelicalism.

Boris Johnson and Britain are having their own Catholic crisis

By Catherine Pepinster — June 17, 2021

LONDON (RNS) — ‘Appointment as prime minister is the completion of the Catholic stealth minority’s rise to influence,’ said one historian.

Ethical vegans in UK win court protection for their creed

By Catherine Pepinster — January 8, 2020

LONDON (RNS) — A ruling in an alleged wrongful termination case said that ethical veganism qualified as a philosophical belief under the U.K.'s Equality Act 2010.

Chief rabbi’s attack on anti-Semitism keys reckoning over faith in UK election

By Catherine Pepinster — December 2, 2019

LONDON (RNS) — The Dec. 12 national election has brought unaccustomed denunciations from Britain's top religious figures against discrimination based on faith.

Boy’s removal from church service spurs debate in UK on welcoming those with autism

By Catherine Pepinster — June 21, 2019

LONDON (RNS) — According to the National Autistic Society in the U.K., more than a quarter of people with autism and their families have been asked to leave a public place because of behavior linked to their autism.

With anti-Semitism on the rise, U.K. begins formal inquiry into Labour Party’s attitudes

By Catherine Pepinster — May 31, 2019

LONDON (RNS) — Britain is facing an unprecedented political crisis over religious discrimination as its two biggest political parties are confronting mounting accusations over their treatment of Jews and Muslims.

The priest and the ‘Fleabag’ forge mutual faith in Amazon comedy series

By Catherine Pepinster — May 15, 2019

(RNS) — In the second season of a popular TV comedy series, a handsome, swearing, gin-swilling cleric won over a 'lying, acerbic sex addict' — not to mention the famously secular U.K. America is next.

In a rural corner of Britain, a farm reconnects Judaism with the land

By Catherine Pepinster — May 10, 2019

(RNS) — At Sadeh, a farm in Kent, Talia Chain and her small staff are reconnecting Judaism with its agricultural roots and biblical principles of growing food.

Lodging for spouses becomes Anglicans’ latest battleground over LGBT clergy

By Catherine Pepinster — April 2, 2019

LONDON (RNS) — A university that customarily offers hospitality to convening clergy is bucking the archbishop of Canterbury's attempt to ban same-sex spouses of gay and lesbian bishops.

Church of England’s synod takes on Brexit divisions as zero hour approaches

By Catherine Pepinster — February 21, 2019

LONDON (RNS) — In a special motion at the Church of England's upcoming General Synod, weeks before the Brexit deadline, the archbishops of Canterbury and York will urge politicians to do more to heal divisions in society.

British inquiry into church sexual abuse blasts UK’s papal nuncio

By Catherine Pepinster — February 19, 2019

LONDON — A face-off between Britain's papal nuncio and government panel on child sexual abuse is not the first time Vatican diplomats have clashed with their hosts' prosecutors.

Prince Charles calls for Middle East peace at service for persecuted Christians

By Catherine Pepinster — December 3, 2018

LONDON (RNS) — The plight of persecuted Christians is a cause that has become dear to the heir to the British throne.

Two cakes, two courts, two countries: Same result

By Catherine Pepinster — October 11, 2018

LONDON (RNS) — This week it was the British Supreme Court’s turn to decide a case in which a bakery refused to make a cake supporting same-sex marriage.

No longer the default, Church of England goes to battle in religious marketplace

By Catherine Pepinster — September 20, 2018

LONDON (RNS) — For the past two years the Church of England has committed itself to developing a strong presence online, with a particular target of attracting people who do not regularly go to church.

Labour Party legislator’s resignation increases unease for Britain’s Jews

By Catherine Pepinster — August 31, 2018

LONDON (RNS) — For generations of Jews, Britain has been a safe place to live, but now many Jews are feeling a deep unease about new evidence of anti-Semitism in the country and especially within the left-wing Labour Party.