(RNS) The world’s best-selling book has made it to the small screen in what is thought to be the first religiously themed game show on a secular network. “The American Bible Challenge” represents a bid to tap the religious market – particularly evangelicals. By Chris Lisee.

(RNS/ENInews) A Moscow court on Friday found three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for a guerrilla performance in Moscow's main cathedral. By Sophia Kishkovsky.

SAN FRANCISCO (RNS) While the recent Atheist Film Festival is the only explicitly atheist festival in the U.S., it is part of a larger trend of Humanist and Freethought film festivals taking their place along Jewish and Christian ones. By Kimberly Winston.

(RNS) Gospel artist BeBe Winans has written a new book about his 28-year friendship with Whitney Houston. In an interview, he talked about Houston's faith and why he won't rush to see her performance in "Sparkle," the movie that opens Friday (Aug. 17). By Adelle M. Banks.

(RNS) The hip-hop artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg has taken a new name that reflects his religious conversion. So, did Snoop have to change his name when he became a Rasta? By Daniel Burke.

LOS ANGELES (RNS) Mention the word “exorcism” to most people, and you get descriptions of levitating bodies, spinning heads, oozing green bile and hissing serpentine tongues.  But don’t expect to see these eye-popping visual effects in this summer’s stage version of “The Exorcist” at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. By Angela Aleiss.

WASHINGTON (RNS) A character on a National Geographic Channel documentary series about a rural Hutterite colony defended his community and the production company after Hutterite bishops criticized the show and its producer. By Chris Lisee.
 

(RNS) This summer will be the last call for Cornerstone, one of the oldest Christian music and arts festivals in the U.S. Yet as Cornerstone and its heavy metal lineup exit the stage, the young upstart Wild Goose Festival is doubling its size in only its second year. By Greg Horton.

(RNS) Members of a Hutterite colony in Montana that's the focus of a new National Geographic reality show say the series is a ``distorted and exploitative'' depiction of their life that is not what the producers promised. By Chris Lisee.

(RNS) On HBO's "True Blood," politics is literally a bloody business. The show's fifth season -- which coincides with a U.S. presidential campaign -- returns Sunday. "We wanted to play with the politics/religion angle, since that seems to be something that never stops," creator Alan Ball said. By Bill Keveney/USA Today.

(RNS) The boyhood home of Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X and the neighborhood where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was born have been listed as “endangered” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. By Adelle M. Banks.

AUSTIN, Tex. (RNS) Laura Kaeppeler travels nonstop, wears stylish new outfits daily and attracts TV crews in every city she visits as the reigning Miss America. But the glamorous appearances go for a most unglamorous cause: a faith-based platform for the 2.7 million kids who have an incarcerated parent. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.

ATHENS, Ala. (RNS) A new film, "Hell and Mr. Fudge,'' follows the story of Edward Fudge as he began an intensive study of the Bible and the doctrine of hell. What he found made him question one of the bedrock doctrines of Bible-based Christianity -- and nearly got him run out of town. By Kay Campbell.

SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) Idaho regulators have decided not to carry Five Wives Vodka because of its label, while Utah booze cops have deemed the bottle’s depiction of 19th-century women in petticoats holding kittens near their lady parts as acceptable. By Dawn House.

(RNS) U.S. Catholic leaders say a new film about a Catholic civil war in 1920s Mexico has important lessons for U.S. Catholics in 2012, and they're hoping "For Greater Glory" will help rally the faithful around their bid to defend "religious freedom." By Lauren Markoe.