Religion News Service

By actively undermining progressive and moderate faith voices at home, the White House is profligately deepening divisions in American religion.

Azerbaijan's hefty donations to restore Vatican treasures are drawing sharp criticism from Armenian activists, who accuse the Holy See of whitewashing the country's destruction of their Christian heritage.

The fear of raids has pushed some congregations back to pandemic-era worship strategies.

The Halachic Left is one of several new Jewish protest groups that have formed after Oct. 7, 2023, to argue for a reclaiming of a Judaism of loving-kindness.

Participants from the US and Africa urged scientific and economic thinkers on climate to consider spiritual concepts raised in Laudato Si'.

 Some churches report lower attendance at services. Others have added programs to serve people affected by Trump administration tactics.  

When we read the news about people in distress, Jesus is looking over our shoulders and asking what we are going to do for them, writes Fr. Tom Reese.

"I always say that moms can act as the moral compass of a society," Katie Holler, founder of the Dorothea Project, said.

Much of the debate involves grappling with the question of whether AI is being used as a replacement for a sacred human project or whether it's a tool in the service of that project. 

The persecuted church in Russia is speaking. Is the global church listening?

The resolution also denounces "weaponization" of the U.S. Constitution" and urges UCC churches to divest from private incarceration companies that are participating in the White House crackdown on immigrants.

Attacks from the religious right on Marina Silva, a Pentecostal and longtime environmentalist, expose the rifts within Brazil's evangelical movement as the Amazon's future hangs in the balance.

The religious right has hoped for the repeal of the Johnson Amendment since at least 2007, when President Donald Trump pledged to totally destroy it. The new regime is bound to be helpful to Republicans but unlikely to advance the cause of religion.

Religious organizations in New York City are reviving old strategies and adopting new ones to protect their communities from immigration enforcement.

"New York was the center of the slave trade in the United States," said Boshop Matthew Heyd of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. "That evil is part of the fabric of the diocese, and we're trying to repair this fabric."

At age 47, Bishop-designate Thomas Hennen will be the youngest bishop leading a U.S. diocese. Hennen's ministry to LGBTQ+ people has seen mixed reactions about his pastoral approach.

The American Humanist Association, which has a chapter in West Virginia, sued its water authority for awarding a $5 million grant to an Ohio Catholic college.

As the so-called One Big, Beautiful Bill made its way toward congressional approval last month, U.S. Catholic bishops signed their names to not one but two letters to senators on the same day, both airing misgivings. The existence of dueling letters, church observers say, offered a rare public glimpse of a rift that's been years in the making.

The United States is beginning to look like a dictatorship seeking to divest itself of anyone who is poor and speaks Spanish. How a person reacts to the sight of armed, masked men assaulting immigrants in the United States defines a person’s character. Increasingly, the priority put on detaining people is defining the character of the government, if not the entire country. 

'I'm like, not again!' said one parishioner of the historic St. Teresa of Avila Church, who moved there after her previous church in the neighborhood was closed.