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NEW ORLEANS – A Santeria priest who sued a Texas city for denying him permission to sacrifice a goat as part of a religious ceremony asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to let him resume the ritual in his home. Jose Merced, 46, accused the city of Euless, Texas, of trampling on his constitutional right…

WASHINGTON (RNS) The president of the National Association of Evangelicals took a rare step into the immigration debate Tuesday (March 31), saying that the long waiting period for citizenship must be shortened. “There are inconsistencies and many outdated aspects of immigration laws, and I think they are therefore unjust and unfair,” said Leith Anderson, president…

NEW YORK (RNS) Responding to increasing reports of sex abuse in Orthodox Jewish communities, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes on Wednesday launched a new outreach program aimed at helping victims come forward. Kol Tzedek, which translates to “Voice of Justice,” includes a phone number where victims can reach a social worker familiar with their…

Washington – Just before the end of the Bush administration last January, the U.S. State Department redesignated eight nations as “countries of particular concern” because of their religious freedom violations. The independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom learned of the designations, which were authorized Jan. 16 under then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and announced…

Baltimore – Prosecutors agreed to some unusual terms to win a guilty plea from a former religious cult member charged with starving her 1-year-old son to death: If the child is resurrected, her plea will be withdrawn. Ria Ramkissoon, 22, also agreed Monday to testify against four other members of the now-defunct religious group known…

Vatican City – Jewish groups are outraged again after a Catholic archbishop in Brazil downplayed Jewish suffering in the Holocaust, which he said had been exaggerated by Jewish “propaganda.” “The Jews call themselves the main victims of the Holocaust. But the main victims were Gypsies. They were exterminated,” said Archbishop Dadeus Grings of Porto Alegre,…

WASHINGTON — Imagine finally making it to the big game, then having to take half your team off the field. That’s how it feels for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby that recently laid off more than a dozen staffers, said legislative director Ruth Flower. The cuts come just as the new…

NEW YORK (RNS) Traditionalist Jews and tree-huggers alike are coming together for Birkat HaHammah, a Jewish holiday that falls only once every 28 years, marking the sun’s return to its original position at creation. This year, the celebration takes place at sunrise April 8, followed by the start of Passover at sunset. The timing is…

(RNS) American Catholics are more liberal than the general population on social issues like divorce and homosexuality, despite the Catholic Church’s longstanding conservatism on both issues, according to a new survey. Catholics are more likely than non-Catholics to say that homosexual relations, divorce, and heterosexual sex outside wedlock are morally acceptable, according to an analysis…

WASHINGTON — The American archbishop who heads the Vatican’s supreme court has apologized for the “confusion and hurt” caused by his criticism of fellow bishops who do not deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights. Archbishop Raymond Burke, formerly of St. Louis, was interviewed earlier this month by an anti-abortion activist in Rome,…
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