(RNS) Ever since President Obama won re-election, more than 700,000 Americans have petitioned the White House to let their respective states secede. Observers say those leading the charge are framing it in terms that suggest a deep-seated religious impulse for purity-through-separation is flaring up once again. This time, it’s playing out on a political stage. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.

CONCORD, N.H. (RNS) When Gene Robinson became the first openly gay Episcopal bishop in 2003, his election triggered shock waves and fears of schism worldwide. Now, as this lighting-rod figure prepares to retire Jan. 5, he’s leaving New Hampshire for a city that knows polarization all too well: Washington, D.C. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.

(RNS) Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley on Thursday kicked off an ambitious, four-year project to reorganize the archdiocese’s 288 parishes into approximately 135 ``parish collaboratives,'' each headed by a single pastor and served by a ministry team. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald. 

(RNS) As Sandy cleanup continues, so does an ethical debate: Is evacuation a moral duty? By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.

(RNS) Just five weeks after accepting a free 217-acre campus in western Massachusetts, Grand Canyon University is walking away from the gift. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.

(RNS) About 300 churches are preparing for a new tradition: Election Day Communion, when people of every political stripe will leave their respective partisan bunkers and line up side by side to receive the sacrament on Election Day. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.

(RNS) A for-profit, Christian university in Arizona has won one of the education world’s most sought-after prizes: a free, historic, freshly renovated campus in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts.