PARIS (RNS) — A decade ago, Rene Lebouvier requested that his local Catholic church erase his name from the baptismal register. The church noted his demands on the margins of its records and the chapter was closed. But the clergy…
Christians report lowest growth rate in Israel
JERUSALEM (RNS/ENInews) — Christians have the lowest growth rate among the Israeli population, according to a recent report from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. According to the Jan. 6 report, the Christian growth rate of 0.9 percent lags behind…
Court orders occupiers out of St. Paul’s Cathedral
LONDON (RNS) — Britain’s High Court on Jan. 18 ordered anti-corporate protesters evicted from a camp they have occupied for three months outside London’s iconic St. Paul’s Cathedral. The demonstrators, identifying themselves as the Occupy London Stock Exchange movement, set…
COMMENTARY: Special treatment hurts both church and state
NEW YORK (RNS) — It’s time for religion to lose its special treatment in the Constitution and in tax codes. Not because religion has ceased to matter, but because it matters more than ever in our increasingly unethical society, and…
Muslims say Ron Paul is their kind of Republican
NEW YORK (RNS) — Growing up in rural parts of the American West, Nadja Adolf’s libertarian streak developed early on. “When you come from a countryside that can kill you,” said Adolf, a Muslim convert in her late 50s, “there…
Will evangelical endorsement fuel Santorum surge?
NEW YORK (RNS) — The Iowa caucuses revived Rick Santorum’s underdog presidential campaign. Now an influential assortment of Christian conservatives has moved to consecrate it. On Jan. 14, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania sewed up the endorsement from a…
Survey: Half of churchgoers’ lives not affected by time in pews
NEW YORK (RNS) — Almost half of churchgoing Americans say their life has not changed a bit due to their time in the pews, a new survey shows. Barna Group, an evangelical company based in California, found that 46 percent…
Judge rules against prayer banner in R.I. school
NEW YORK (RNS) — A federal judge ruled Jan. 11 in favor of a teenage atheist who sought the removal of a prayer banner from her Rhode Island high school. Attorneys for Jessica Ahlquist, 16, argued that a banner on…
10 minutes with … Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
NEW YORK (RNS) — Celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, spiritual counselor to Michael Jackson and author of the best-selling Kosher Sex, is about to publish Kosher Jesus. The Orthodox Boteach deems it “the true story of Jesus of Nazareth … a…
Study portrays Mormons as outsiders looking in
NEW YORK (RNS) — In some ways, Mormonism is the ultimate American religion. Born in America, it was unveiled by an American prophet who believed the Constitution was divinely inspired and the Garden of Eden bloomed in Independence, Mo. The…
Religious leaders: Same-sex marriage threatens religious freedom
NEW YORK (RNS) — A coalition of nearly 40 religious leaders has published an open letter that seeks to recast the battle against same-sex marriage as a fight on behalf of religious freedom. The religious leaders, predominantly from conservative Christian…
Unconventional statue of John Paul II gets a makeover
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Just eight months after being unveiled, a controversial statue of Pope John Paul II in Rome is receiving a major makeover. The 16-foot statue stands just outside the city’s main railway station but, since last May,…