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(RNS) The holiday season and the New Year — often full of stress, drama and emotional baggage — is a fine time to consider spiritual issues. The 15 titles listed here touch on topics ranging from church architecture to the church fathers, from a Catholic priest’s insights to Taoist sacred texts. Doubters, atheists, Bible study…

Mississippi is the most religious state in the country, according to poll results recently released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The state comes in No. 1 across all categories evaluated: the importance of religion in the lives of residents, frequency of attendance at worship services, frequency of prayer and belief in…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) An Irish Catholic bishop implicated in a recent report on clerical sex abuse resigned on Wednesday (Dec. 23), making his the second such resignation in less than a week. In a statement announcing the move, Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin apologized to “all the survivors and their families,” and expressed…

PRESCOTT, Ariz. – Documents released Monday by Arizona authorities investigating a fatal sweat lodge ceremony show that serious medical problems occurred at past events led by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. Three people died after the Oct. 8 sweat lodge ceremony that was the highlight of Ray’s five-day “Spiritual Warrior” event at a retreat near…

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Israel announced Monday it is building nearly 700 new apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to set up the capital of a future state. The U.S., Palestinians and the European Union condemned the plan, a fresh setback to American efforts to restart Mideast peace talks. The Palestinians have…

NEWTON, Mass. (RNS) When Newton, Mass. artist Paula Rendino needed fresh inspiration last year (2008), she sought her muse in an unlikely place: seminary. Art school would have been “too boring,” Rendino explained. She yearned to bring fresh depth to her work by pondering spiritual themes. Now she does exactly that alongside dozens of ministers-in-training…

(RNS) On the first day of her introductory religion class at Merrimack College just north of Boston, professor Rebecca Sachs Norris put her students to work at having some fun. She assigned teams of three or four students to play some of the many religious board games that fill her office shelves. Weeks later, they…

Baghdad–Bombs hit Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and a central Iraqi city Thursday, killing at least 26 people and wounding dozens more, in the latest attack in the lead-up to Ashoura, the sect’s most solemn annual rite. The blasts raised fears of more bloodshed as hundreds of thousands of Shiites head to the holy city of…

Bethlehem, West Bank–Thousands of pilgrims from around the world descended on the traditional birthplace of Jesus on Thursday, greeted by choruses, scout troops and rock bands for the most upbeat Christmas celebrations this Palestinian town has seen in years. But the Holy Land’s top Roman Catholic clergyman reminded followers that peace remains elusive, while the…

NAZARETH, Israel – Just in time for Christmas, archaeologists on Monday unveiled what may have been the home of one of Jesus’ childhood neighbors. The humble dwelling is the first dating to the era of Jesus to be discovered in Nazareth, then a hamlet of around 50 impoverished Jewish families where Jesus spent his boyhood.…
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