Christianity
As a landmark United Methodist gathering approaches, African churches weigh their future.
By Peter Smith — April 15, 2024
(AP) — Today, members from four continents vote at legislative gatherings, serve on boards together, go on mission trips to each others’ countries and are largely governed by the same rules.
Vatican complains after French court rules in favor of nun dismissed from religious order
By Nicole Winfield — April 15, 2024
ROME (AP) — The case is highly unusual, because it represented a secular civilian court essentially determining that the Vatican’s in-house canonical procedures grossly violated the nun’s fundamental rights.
Guilty plea by leader of polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border is at risk of being thrown out
By Associated Press — April 15, 2024
PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities say Bateman created a sprawling network spanning at least four states as he tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
A memoir explores a shattering childhood and narrow escape
By Yonat Shimron — April 15, 2024
(RNS) — 'Between Two Trailers' is part of a growing genre describing in harrowing detail the abuse and neglect of parents caught in a maze of mental illness and religion.
Vatican document on gender theory, surrogacy puzzles critics and advocates
By Claire Giangravé — April 15, 2024
(RNS) — Experts question whether the pope will leave hot-button issues for his successor to decide or if he is paving the way for doctrinal reform.
An Episcopal seminary found a solution to its fiscal woes. Then 7 bishops intervened.
By Bob Smietana — April 12, 2024
(RNS) — A group of seven New York-area bishops have objected to a long-term lease for General Episcopal Seminary, saying the lessee, a Catholic school, has a donor that does not support rights for gay, transgender and queer people.
Far-right pastor Doug Wilson meets with local critics in Idaho
By Tracy Simmons — April 12, 2024
MOSCOW, Idaho (FaVS News) — More than 100 people attended the forum, which was held on the University of Idaho campus and organized by the student group Collegiate Reformed Fellowship.
Mormonism is still growing, but slowly
By Jana Riess — April 12, 2024
(RNS) — There's something for everyone to cheer — or boo — in the most recent data on the LDS church.
Chaldean patriarch returns to Baghdad after nine months of self-imposed exile amid political dispute
By Abby Sewell and Ali Jabar — April 12, 2024
BAGHDAD (AP) —Cardinal Louis Sako was welcomed warmly by a church packed with members of the country’s Christian minority as he led his first mass in Baghdad on Friday after returning the day before.
US Catholics more polarized than ever about still-popular Pope Francis, survey says
By Aleja Hertzler-McCain — April 12, 2024
(RNS) — The Republican and Republican-leaning favorability rating represents a decline, creating the largest partisan gap in approval of Francis since his papacy began.
Matthew Johnson Harris uses faith to leverage the theater’s power to heal
By Benjamin Spratt and Joshua Stanton — April 11, 2024
(RNS) — Bringing faith into the theater world, not to proselytize but to invite conversations about identity and hurt.
Experts call for Vatican judicial reforms to promote transparency and a fair trial
By Claire Giangravé — April 11, 2024
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Speakers at the conference said the institution still has a lot to do to better inform victims during canonical trials.
Documentary portrays asylum-seeking family helped by a Seattle synagogue
By Yonat Shimron — April 11, 2024
(RNS) — ‘All We Carry’ follows a Honduran couple and their son as they make their way from Mexico to Seattle, where they settle for three years until an immigration court hears their asylum claim.
The death penalty says more about us than the condemned
By Joe Ingle — April 11, 2024
(RNS) — I should know. I’ve been a death row pastor for 45 years.
Trump assails Jewish voters who back Biden: ‘Should have their head examined’
By Bill Barrow — April 11, 2024
ATLANTA (AP) — The Gaza conflict has sandwiched Biden between conservatives – both Christian and Jewish – who want stalwart support for Netanyahu’s government, and progressives.
