JERUSALEM – In a jarring contrast, Israel switched moods Tuesday evening from a somber Memorial Day for fallen soldiers to a joyous Independence Day celebrating 61 years since the Jewish state was created, but the absence of Mideast peace weighed on the festivities. Israeli army units marched at a ceremony on Mt. Herzl, site of…

CLEVELAND (RNS) Violence in the Middle East and worldwide economic distress have combined to produce “the biggest explosion of anti-Semitism globally that we have witnessed since World War II,” according to the national director of the Anti-Defamation League. Abraham Foxman, who has led the New York-based ADL since 1987, told an audience at the City…

(UNDATED) The Presbyterian Church (USA) has defeated a move — for the third time in 12 years — that would have allowed partnered gay and lesbian clergy, but gay rights groups cheered what they called a “historic shift” in the number of Presbyterians who supported the measure. Sixty-nine of the Presbyterians’ 173 presbyteries, or local…

DENVER – The United States is a nation of religious drifters, with about half of adults switching faith affiliation at least once during their lives, according to a new survey. The reasons behind the swap depend greatly on whether one grows up kneeling at Roman Catholic Mass, praying in a Protestant pew or occupied with…

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