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ANAHEIM, Calif. — As the Episcopal Church lifted a de facto ban on gay and lesbian bishops and appears headed toward adapting rites for same-sex unions, one question has repeatedly surfaced in the debates: Does the church takes its cues from the culture, or stand against it? Episcopal bishops gathered for the denomination’s General Convention…

TEXARKANA, Ark. – A woman whose parents and grandparents followed evangelist Tony Alamo testified at his sex-crime trial Wednesday that “Papa Tony” segregated children by gender to prevent “hanky-panky” and controlled everything at his religious compound. The woman, now 30, said children in the compound were not allowed to attend public schools and instead took…

WASHINGTON (RNS) The nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday (July 14) to stop the engraving of “In God We Trust” and the “one nation under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance in the new Capitol Visitor Center. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based church-state watchdog group, claimed the…

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Russell Randle and J.P. Causey are both lawyers, both Virginians, and both longtime Episcopalians. They have visited each other’s homes, served on church committees together, and when Randle wrote a book on environmental law, he sent a signed copy to Causey, his friend of 15 years. But the two men, gathered here…

(RNS) ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Episcopal Church on Tuesday (July 14) overwhelmingly voted to lift a three-year-old moratorium on consecrating gay and lesbian bishops, despite warnings that the ban was necessary to preserve unity in the wider Anglican Communion. A large majority of Episcopal bishops, priests and lay delegates gathered here for the church’s triennial…

WASHINGTON — As a federal judge, Sonia Sotomayor sided with Santeria prisoners who wanted to wear religious beads and Muslim inmates who wanted to break the fast during the holy month of Ramadan. At the same time, she ruled against Muslims who wanted a Muslim crescent and star added to post office holiday displays that…

(RNS) Gary Tobin, a sometimes controversial researcher who studied Jewish demographics and the growth of contemporary Judaism, died of cancer in a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on July 6. He was 59. The self-described “radical thinker” made it his life work countering conventional Judaism in his research studying anti-Semitism, Jewish philanthropy, and the growth…

WASHINGTON – The plaintiff in Roe v. Wade, who became an anti-abortion protester in recent years, was among four protesters arrested Monday for disrupting Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Better known as “Jane Roe,” 61-year-old Norma McCorvey of Texas began screaming during the opening statement of the newest senator, Al Franken, D-Minn. McCorvey’s suit…

BOSTON – A lay Catholic group founded in the worst days of the church’s clergy sex abuse scandal said Monday it may be forced to cease operations because of a downturn in donations. Leaders of Voice of the Faithful sent out a fundraising letter Monday to members saying it is “at the crossroads of financial…

(RNS) The world’s largest security training organization has opened a new church-security division and will instruct churches on how to prevent and respond to violent crimes at its annual conference in September. ASIS International’s new church-security division will lead a seminar at its convention in Anaheim, Calif., to address threats and vulnerabilities that leave faith-based…
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