San Francisco – Advocates on both sides of the gay marriage issue demonstrated outside California’s highest court Thursday before justices heard arguments on lawsuits seeking to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex nuptials. Supporters of gay marriage carried rainbow flags and banners that urged the overturning of voter-approved Proposition 8, which took away the right…

Membership has waned in the nation’s largest Christian bodies– the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention — while mainline Protestant churches continue to shrink, according to the “Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.” With more than 67 million members, the Catholic Church continues to far outnumber other American denominations. But Catholics lost nearly…

WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious groups are divided over a lawsuit filed Tuesday (March 3) to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which gay groups claim unconstitutionally denies them the rights and responsibilities given to straight married couples. The Clinton-era law prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages or providing federal benefits to same-sex couples.…

(RNS) Purim, the noisiest Jewish holiday of the year, has become more accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired worshippers, as a growing number of synagogues now use a PowerPoint program developed for the festival, which falls on March 10 this year. The “Purim for the Deaf” slideshow, launched in five synagogues in 2003, will be used…

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