Religion News Service

There are two extremes when dealing with the role of religion in politics. One argues that God's views should be enforced by the state. The other argues that any law motivated by religion should be unconstitutional.

The rise in popularity of music from churches like Elevation, Hillsong and Bethel has helped launch a new kind of ecumenical movement.

Earlier this week, after months of protest by Philly Bike Action, a local association of cyclists, Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church decided to give up a city permit that allowed congregants to park on the street outside the building. Those temporary parking spots, which were valid on Sunday mornings, were located in what is otherwise a bike lane.

One of the meeting's top priorities was to explain how faith communities can better use federal funds for clean energy initiatives. 

Pope Francis is waiting for ‘the appropriate time’ to visit Ukraine, according to that country’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash.

By strategically using both radical forms of civil disobedience and more mainstream public actions, such as lobbying and state-sanctioned demonstrations, activists can grab the public’s attention while making less aggressive tactics seem much more acceptable.

The committee not only has papered investment firms with document preservation letters, but they also have set their sights on the Sisters of Saint Dominic of Caldwell, Mercy Investment Services, Christian Brothers Investment Services and Loyola Marymount University. These Catholic ministries and religious communities operate under the authoritative teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, which tell us, "Every economic activity making use of natural resources must … also be concerned with safeguarding the environment."

False prophets tell us that global warming will not happen, microplastics do not cause cancer, guns will protect us, and the poor need to suffer to motivate them to work.

Frenzied speculation over who Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris would tap as her vice presidential running mate came to an end Tuesday, with the current vice president choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her successor should they win in November.

JD Vance’s views on childless women are sharply at odds with the attitude of his present Catholic faith. Catholic history is full of childless women respected for their work, many of them members of religious communities. They often contributed to lasting social and cultural change. In fact, the very existence of women’s religious communities is a testament to the value Catholicism puts on childless women’s lives.

Over 100 monks deemed schismatic have been living on the holy mountain without authorization since 2002.

Rather than contest the overwhelming evidence of anthropogenic climate change, the new climate denialism asserts that such initiatives just won’t work. While this represents a telling shift — call it a strategic retreat — in denialist messaging, it’s also a doubling down on the anti-government ideology that has been a staple of faith-based climate skepticism.

Some Catholic bishops have criticized as anti-Christian a drag-queen tableau reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics."Keep calm and carry on," writes Thomas Reese.

On Thursday (July 25), Ascension, one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the U.S., announced that it would sell nine hospitals and four post-acute and older adult living facilities in Illinois to Prime Healthcare. Eight of the hospitals would be managed under Prime Healthcare’s for-profit wing.

Religiously affiliated organizations can clash with politicians on humanitarian aid to migrants, raising issues around religious freedom and hospitality to newcomers.

“The targeting of this faith-based agency and broader attacks on the Catholic Church should deeply concern Catholics, religious liberty advocates and all people of good will,” Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, told Religion News Service in a statement, referring to Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.

"The campaign for president is long and loud. Campaigning for pope only lasts a few weeks," Thomas Reese writes. "Despite all this, the Democratic National Convention this year is shaping up to be more like a conclave."

"We speak out as Christian leaders with a deep concern for the common good for all affected by war and conflict without exception," reads the letter, which was organized by Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches based in Washington. Besides a cease-fire and the return of hostages, the letter goes on to call for "the release of Palestinian prisoners held without due process," as well as a free flow of humanitarian aid and a halt on shipping arms into the region.

Every past U.S. president has identified as Christian, and that will not change if Harris is elected in November. But as she runs for president, her religious biography will be not only history-making but will connect her to how many Americans practice and encounter faith.

Faiths United to Save Democracy, a nonpartisan multiracial group with roots in Black church voter mobilization efforts, is expanding its outreach so participants include clergy and lay people of a variety of religions as well as people with no faith affiliation and members of secular organizations.