(RNS) More than 4,000 Chabad rabbis representing 80 countries gathered on Sunday in Brooklyn for what was described as New York City’s largest sit-down dinner.

WASHINGTON (RNS) Everyone on Twitter is learning that a hashtag cuts both ways — it can be hijacked or lampooned by detractors, and it’s a key way that online activists are pushing back against opposing messages or what some might even call hate speech.

A longtime mayor of DC could receive quite the funeral. TV tests: Will voters vote for an atheist? Plus, Ferguson activists are finding safe places in churches.

What cities might Pope Francis visit on his 2015 U.S. tour? The New Yorker envisions an updated Bible. And the USPS has unveiled a new Christmas stamp.

The new Serial podcast is buzzing. Plus, another doctor who has contracted Ebola in Africa will be transported to the U.S. And there’s a better way to break the Internet than Kim Kardashian.

(RNS) Seminary leaders seek reconciliation with faculty who have been reinstated provisionally.

(RNS) Pastors with megabrands are raising new issues for fast-growing churches.

(RNS) Organizers say the new conference will show that while the Catholic hierarchy is split on how to address contemporary challenges to marriage and family life, the church can nonetheless seek common ground with religious leaders outside the Vatican.

29-year-old Brittany Maynard has died. Daredevil Nik Wallenda broke records in Chicago. And Mars Hill, the multisite church founded by Mark Driscoll, is being dissolved.

(RNS) For both sides, alleged friendships could pose a risk, as relationships could be perceived as acceptance.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) The Southern Baptist leader denounced the controversial idea that people who are gay or have same-sex attraction could become straight.

(RNS) The Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom said the Hitching Post wedding chapel is not a nonprofit religious organization like a church, but rather is a religious for-profit limited liability company like a Bible publisher.

(RNS) Seven churches in California received notifications from their insurers that elective surgical abortion coverage would be required as part of their employee health plans.

(RNS) “There are a lot of things I could say that would make me feel better. I don’t know if it would make me look better, but I don’t think it would make Jesus look better,” former megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll said.

Ministers say they could face fines and jail for not conducting same-sex marriages. Experts say travel bans for Ebola would cut off the worst-hit countries. And the lone church destroyed on 9/11 will begin rebuilding.