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…
Flood of ‘de-baptisms’ worries European church leaders
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…