Lauren Markoe
Lauren Markoe has been a national reporter for RNS since 2011. Previously she covered government and politics as a daily reporter at the Charlotte Observer and The State (Columbia, S.C.)
All Stories by Lauren Markoe
The Slingshot: Gluten-free wafers; Samford’s LGBT group; Joan of Art
By Lauren Markoe — July 11, 2017
The Vatican reiterates that communion wafers have to have at least a trace amount of gluten. A Baptist University thinks twice about an LGBT group. The 15th-century French teenage martyr lives on in art.
Experts say Hobby Lobby must have known it was illegally importing artifacts
By Lauren Markoe — July 6, 2017
(RNS) 'No dealer in his right mind would have been involved in this,' said Jerome Eisenberg, an antiquities dealer who has specialized in ancient art for more than 60 years.
Longtime Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls dies at 80
By Lauren Markoe — July 5, 2017
(RNS) He served as the papal spokesman for 22 years, embracing technology and holding regular, colorful briefings.
United Church of Christ resolution decries Israel’s treatment of underage prisoners
By Lauren Markoe — July 3, 2017
(RNS) The resolution, which passed Sunday at the church's general synod in Baltimore, also calls on the U.S. to withhold military assistance.
Half sib? Welcome. Fiance? Not so fast. New travel ban rules decried as illogical
By Lauren Markoe — June 29, 2017
(RNS) Muslim and other civil rights groups say the Trump administration's interpretation of a 'bona fide relationship' is unreasonably narrow.
The Slingshot: Baylor’s new president; UU’s new leader; Arkansas’s new monument
By Kimberly Winston and Lauren Markoe — June 28, 2017
A woman is now in charge of the renowned Baptist University. The Unitarians-Universalists get their first female president. And the Ten Commandments pop up on state house grounds.
Last-ditch effort aims to fill State Department job combating anti-Semitism
By Lauren Markoe — June 27, 2017
WASHINGTON (RNS) Jewish and other human rights groups are lobbying Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to fill the job, created by Congress in 2004.
The Slingshot: High court rulings; Evangelical generation gap; Budget cut blues
By Lauren Markoe — June 27, 2017
The Supreme Court invokes the free exercise clause on a key decision. Younger evangelicals are much more approving of gay marriage than their elders. And churches simply can’t fill the hole Trump wants to bore in the federal budget.
Supreme Court rules for Missouri church in ‘playground’ case
By Lauren Markoe — June 26, 2017
(RNS) Missouri wrongly denied the church 'an otherwise available public benefit on account of its religious status,' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.
Mosque under construction in Mali to honor US teen slain during Ramadan
By Lauren Markoe — June 22, 2017
(RNS) It took less than 24 hours to crowdsource the funds to build a mosque that will be called Masjid Nabra, which is already under construction.
No major US religious groups approve refusing service to gays
By Lauren Markoe — June 21, 2017
(RNS) White evangelical Protestants and Mormons showed the highest rates of approval for those who cite their religious belief as the basis for denying service to gays — but still less than a majority within those two groups hold this opinion.
US Catholic bishops committee dismayed over Trump’s new direction on Cuba
By Lauren Markoe — June 20, 2017
(RNS) The U.S. Catholic bishops want President Trump to consider 'ordinary Cubans' as he scales back on what he calls a one-sided deal with the island nation.
The Slingshot: Atheist lawmaker; Presbyterians hurt; Speed on Eid
By Lauren Markoe — June 20, 2017
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Chaldeans in US: Why aren’t more Christians speaking out against deportations to Iraq?
By Lauren Markoe — June 15, 2017
(RNS) They're frustrated by evangelicals who have expressed outrage over the persecution of Christians in the Middle East but who have been silent about the Chaldeans who face deportation.
Barry Lynn looks back on 25 years of separating church and state
By Lauren Markoe — June 14, 2017
(RNS) 'I think we have a dizzying level of religious freedom in this country, particularly if you’re in the religious majority,' said Lynn, who will soon step down as executive director of Americans United.
