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WASHINGTON (RNS) Under fire for criticizing a popular theologian, the U.S. Catholic bishops said they must occasionally assume the role of referee and rule wayward thinkers out of bounds. “Once ideas are written and published by a theologian, they must stand on their own,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on doctrine,…

WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama on Tuesday (April 19) said Jesus’ death and resurrection on Easter “puts everything else in perspective,” at a White House event that showcased his increasing comfort with discussing his faith. Using the kind of personal religious language that he had once shied away from in public, Obama spoke of “the pain…

(RNS) The State Department has a “rigidly narrow” view of diplomacy that neglects religion’s role in foreign affairs, a prominent Catholic ambassador charged on Sunday (April 17) as he announced his resignation. Other foreign policy experts have another name for it: Religion Avoidance Syndrome. And the departure of Douglas Kmiec as ambassador to Malta, they…

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) As a white man surrendered to federal marshals Friday (April 15), workers were rebuilding the pulpit of the Macedonia Church of God in Christ that he was convicted of burning down the night of President Obama’s election. Michael Jacques, 26, surrendered a day after a jury convicted him on civil rights and…

WASHINGTON (RNS) A New York minister will soon fill the Obama administration’s long-vacant position to oversee international religious freedom after the Senate voted to confirm the Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook for the post. Thursday’s (April 14) voice vote positions Cook to become the first female and the first African-American in the post after a lengthy…

NEW YORK (RNS) The heady days of American congregational expansion are over. The nation’s largest Jewish group, the 1.5 million-member Union for Reform Judaism, is now confronting the same stagnant or even declining membership trends that have become routine for Catholic, mainline Protestant and even some evangelical churches. So when the URJ recently tapped Rabbi…

MOSCOW (RNS/ENInews) A Jehovah’s Witness on trial in Siberia was found innocent on Thursday (April 14) of charges of “inciting religious hatred and enmity,” in a case that was seen as a litmus test of Russian religious freedom. Aleksandr Kalistratov had been accused of distributing Jehovah’s Witnesses literature, which has been qualified as extremist in…

LONDON (RNS) Researchers at two of Britain’s top universities claim that church attendance in many Western nations is falling because people are living longer and therefore have less fear of death. The result, the studies say, is a “graying church.” In Britain, one in four older adults (65 or older) attends church, while just 11…

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability has announced members of a commission to advise a Capitol Hill review of financial reform of religious groups. Secularists, however, say the panel’s all-evangelical leadership will be unable to police other evangelicals. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, asked the council to lead an independent review of “self-reform” of…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Thursday (April 14) lamented China’s interference with the Roman Catholic Church, and reaffirmed Pope Benedict XVI’s willingness to negotiate with Beijing on the appointment of bishops. A message to Chinese Catholics, published by the pope’s special commission on China, noted the “sad episode” of a bishop in the northeastern…
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