(The Conversation) — The idea of a ‘witch’ was usually female in Western Europe, but not so in Orthodox Russia – partly because of the period’s rigid social hierarchies.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — For the past 21 years, a pair of Catholic hermits has sought a place where they can hide from the world. They — and a lay woman friend — finally found happiness after being excommunicated from a church they say is heretical.

For faithful Christian witness regardless of circumstances and with a more humble reading of God’s actions in history.

Celebrity Pope Francis photobombed selfies on his U.S. album launch tour. Conservative “It Girl” Kim Davis sat in jail and won awards for not doing her job. And India threw a “beef party” to celebrate religious tolerance and protest new meat bans.

(RNS) The Bible and “Fifty Shades of Grey” share more than a few raunchy sex scenes. For Banned Books Week and International Blasphemy Rights Day (Sept. 30), these eight titles are still too hot to handle.

The Bible and Fifty Shades of Grey share more than a few raunchy sex scenes. On Banned Books Week and International Blasphemy Rights Day, these eight titles are still too hot to handle.

Same-sex marriage heads back to SCOTUS. A Tennessee sex club becomes a church to skirt zoning restrictions. And Boko Haram rebrands as iSwap, aligning not with Apple but with the Islamic State. All this and more in April’s global religious freedom recap.

From the popularity of ‘Cosmos’ on Fox-TV to the Roku launch of ‘Atheist TV’, from open atheist James Woods’s inspiring congressional campaign to Richard Dawkins’s less-than-inspiring tweets, atheists made headlines all year.

This month’s religious freedom news and views from around the world. Read with caution. Prozac optional.

Catholics celebrate Pope Francis’ one-year anniversary. A South Carolina pastor warns Christians not to participate in the Hindu holiday, Holi. A North Carolina church stations a “Homeless Jesus” sculpture on its lawn.

Every age needs an Antichrist. For Protestant reformers, it was the papacy. For Cold War Christians, it was the Soviets. Now, a growing group of evangelicals say the Antichrist will be Muslim.

All hail King Bibi. Muslim riots continue. Pope Stephen III.

(RNS) After a drunk driver killed his parents and left him paralyzed, the fictional character John Weller was a bitter 22-year-old in St. Louis who sat in his wheelchair and watched television. That all changed on a rainy night when he met two other characters from a new animated feature film, “The 99: Unbound.” Dana […]

SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) For Mormons — or anyone else — who might be wondering, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes no stand on drinking Coca-Cola. The church opposes gambling, guns in churches, euthanasia, Satan worship and hypnotism for entertainment. It also “strongly discourages” surrogacy, sperm donation and vasectomies. These and other […]

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly on Friday (July 17) to allow bishops to bless gay couples and to begin developing rites for same-sex unions, despite warnings that such moves would spark schism in the global Anglican Communion. The resolution, which allows bishops to provide a “generous pastoral response” to gay and lesbian […]