LONDON (RNS) The British government has fasttracked the right of cities and towns to hold prayers as part of their official business, overriding a High Court order to stop the practice. By Al Webb.

WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama hosted his third annual Easter prayer breakfast at the White House on Wednesday (April 4), saying that Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice during Holy Week puts the travails of his own life in perspective. By Lauren Markoe.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop says the Obama adminstration's revised definition of which religious groups are exempt from proving birth control coverage is still too narrow and remains “radically flawed” and “unconstitutional.”

(RNS) More than 1,800 people have signed a petition asking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to "reconsider" his appointment of Zuhdi Jasser, a prominent critic of Islam, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. By Omar Sacribey.

(RNS) A small Catholic college in Massachusetts has been pressured by the local bishop into cancelling an invitation to Sen. Ted Kennedy's widow to deliver the school's commencement address because of her support of abortion rights and gay marriage. By David Gibson.

WASHINGTON (RNS) Almost a year into her stint as the State Department's point person on religious freedom, the Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook has traveled to eight countries and seems to have moved beyond questions about her lack of diplomatic experience.  By Adelle M. Banks.

(RNS) The Obama administration is offering to expand the number of faith-based groups that can be exempt from the controversial contraception mandate, and proposing that third-party companies administer coverage for self-insured faith-based groups at no cost. By David Gibson.

TORONTO (RNS) Two political parties in Quebec are speaking out about the ritual slaughter of meat, saying the practice runs counter to the province's secular "values." By Ron Csillag.

Even though Catholic bishops are leading the charge that the new White House contraception mandate is a threat to religious liberty, Catholics reject -- by a 57 to 38 percent margin -- the idea that religious liberty is under siege, according to a new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe says God doesn't need human help on climate change but does need human help on Israeli security: Politicized theology or theologized politics?

(RNS) The Catholic bishop leading the hierarchy's push against the White House's contraception mandate says the bishops hope to re-start contentious talks with the Obama administration but says church leaders "have gotten mixed signals from the administration" and the situation "is very fluid." By David Gibson.

WASHINGTON (RNS) As Mitt Romney presses his White House bid, many Americans don't realize that his Mormon faith played an important role as foil in the early days of the GOP, and how its first candidates won by whipping up anti-Mormon sentiments. By Thomas Burr.

LONDON (RNS) Police on Tuesday (Feb. 28) evicted scores of demonstrators from a makeshift tent city they had erected outside historic St. Paul's Cathedral more than four months ago as part of a global protest against capitalism.

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Taliban is attempting to capitalize on the outbreak of violence that followed the inadvertent burning of a Quran by NATO troops by characterizing the war as a conflict between infidels and Islam, analysts said.