Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday directed state agencies to use narrow definitions of “female” and “male,” in the latest attack on transgender rights in a state that already has laws targeting bathroom use, health care and sports teams for…
Vice President Harris critiques Florida’s slavery view at AME churchwomen’s meeting
In a speech to a women’s convention of the African Methodist Episcopal Church on Tuesday (Aug. 1), Vice President Kamala Harris responded to a written invitation from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to discuss the state’s controversial standards for teaching the history of…
The Fight For Women’s Suffrage: An Iconic Moment Shaped By Quaker Beliefs On Gender
On July 19, 1848, nearly 300 men and women gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, to begin the United States’ first public political meeting regarding women’s rights.
Defense presses case that mental illness spurred Pittsburgh synagogue massacre
A federal trial for the man who fatally shot 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue approached its conclusion Friday as the defense, trying to persuade a jury to spare his life, pressed its case that mental illness spurred the nation’s…
Progressives’ embrace of Disney in battle with DeSantis over LGBTQ rights comes with risks
The battle between The Walt Disney Co. and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over LGBTQ rights and whether those rights should be acknowledged – let alone taught – in schools has spurred an unlikely alliance between progressives and one of the…
As churches shrink and pastors retire, creative workarounds are redefining ministry
If you are on a search committee in a mainline Protestant church looking for a new pastor, or a denominational administrator trying to find Sunday pulpit-supply clergy, you probably already know this: The clergy job market is a train wreck.
Florida Pastor And Son Found Guilty For Participating In Jan. 6 Capitol Riot
A federal jury has found a Florida pastor, his son, and another church member guilty of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
As organized religion falters, the devil falls on hard times
The 21st century has been hard on God, with faith in the divine and organized religion facing unrelenting decline.
House Democrats Introduce Bill Aimed At Ending Solitary Confinement, A Form Of Torture
A group of House Democrats introduced a bill Thursday seeking to end the use of solitary confinement, an internationally recognized form of torture, in federal prisons, jails and detention centers.
Vatican and Vietnam agree to open resident Holy See office in Hanoi, as relations improve
Vietnam formally agreed Thursday to let a Vatican representative live in the country and open an office, a notching up of relations that could have implications down the line for the Holy See’s delicate ties with China.
After the Nones, there’s no bigger religion-beat story these days than all those Nons
A few months ago, my wife and I were driving into St. Louis and were about 10 miles away from downtown in a suburb on the Illinois side of the river. We drove by this large commercial building next to…
Israel’s Supreme Court will hear challenge to law limiting its power, potentially teeing up constitutional crisis
The Israeli Supreme Court has announced that it will hear petitions challenging a new law that limits its ability to strike down government decisions.