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By DANIEL BURKE c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) United Methodists will begin a trial Tuesday (June 21) against a Wisconsin minister who’s accused of breaking church rules by celebrating a same-sex marriage and being in a lesbian relationship. The Rev. Amy DeLong, 44, of Osceola, Wis., could be defrocked if the 13-member jury composed…

By BRUCE NOLAN c. 2011 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Even before the Southern Baptist Convention elected the Rev. Fred Luter to national office, there was already widespread speculation that Luter is poised to become the denomination’s first African-American president. Representatives of 16 million Southern Baptists overwhelmingly elected Luter first vice president on June…

By STEVE MAYES c. 2011 Religion News Service PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) Gov. John Kitzhaber has signed a new law that removes the remnants of Oregon’s legal protection for parents who rely solely on faith healing instead of traditional medical care for their children. Kitzhaber signed the bill without comment on June 9, two days after…

By YONAT SHIMRON c. 2011 Religion News Service DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s the South. That must mean it’s time for an old-fashioned camp meeting. Next week (June 23-26), the bygone staple of the tent revival will be reincarnated on a bucolic North Carolina farm as The Wild Goose Festival. Nearly 10…

By DANIEL BURKE c. 2011 Religion News Service BELLEVUE, Wash. (RNS) The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops on Thursday (June 16) overwhelmingly voted to maintain current church policies on the sexual abuse of children, making only minor tweaks to policies that critics say contain large loopholes. The bishops voted 187-5, with four abstentions, to make only…

By B. DENISE HAWKINS c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) Thomas A. Farrington isn’t looking for cards or a tie this Father’s Day. What he really wants, he says, is for other black men sitting in the pews with a prostate cancer diagnosis to know they’re not alone. Two years ago, Farrington, the founder of…

By TREVOR GRUNDY c. 2011 Religion News Service CANTERBURY, England (RNS) Nearly a millennium ago, four unruly knights crossed the English Channel from France and confronted the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, over his feud with King Henry II. Before the knights smashed the future saint’s skull in front of monks at an altar inside…

By Cathleen Falsani c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) Pop quiz: Name three women leaders in evangelical Christianity. Not including women known primarily as partner to their better-known husbands. And just to make it interesting, let’s say they have to be under age 60. Stumped? Don’t feel too badly. You’re not alone. Back in 2005…

By ADELLE M. BANKS c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) Southern Baptists adopted a resolution Wednesday (June 15) that supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants but clearly states they reject “amnesty.” After heated debate at their annual meeting in Phoenix, the Baptists approved a statement that called for secure borders and “a just…

By GREG GARRISON c. 2011 Religion News Service (BIRMINGHAM) A new Alabama law that makes it a crime to offer rides to undocumented immigrants is the “meanest” immigration law in the country, according to a United Methodist bishop and respected theologian. Bishop William Willimon of the North Alabama Conference called the bill, which was recently…
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