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,…
Judge refuses to free leader of Amish beard-cutting sect
CLEVELAND (RNS) — A federal judge Jan. 11 refused to release the leader of an Amish splinter sect from jail on charges he orchestrated the cutting of beards of Amish men over longstanding religious disagreements. Samuel Mullet Sr. and 11…
String of synagogue attacks stirs concern in New Jersey
RUTHERFORD, N.J. (RNS) — An attack early Jan. 11 on a New Jersey synagogue — the fourth such incident in a month — is being investigated as an attempted murder and a bias crime, leading to increased concern and security…
Is Rick Santorum a Catholic or an evangelical? Yes.
NEW YORK (RNS) — Just days after Rick Santorum surged to a virtual tie for first in the Iowa caucuses, conservative activists at an invitation-only summit along the South Carolina coast were buzzing about the former Pennsylvania senator’s sudden and…
Supreme Court sides with churches in employment fights
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 11 unanimously threw its support behind a church school that fired a teacher, using a widely watched church-state case to bolster a legal doctrine that exempts religious institutions from some civil…
Beloved hymns carried King through troubled times
NEW YORK (RNS) — At 87, C.T. Vivian can still recall the moment, decades after the height of the civil rights movement. As he stood to conclude a meeting in his Atlanta home, Martin Luther King Jr. joined his activist…