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WASHINGTON — Throughout his eight years in the Oval Office, President Bush frequently made public references to God, but instead of always using the traditional Judeo-Christian term for the divine, he often chose the more generic “Almighty.” “We can be confident because freedom is universal,” Bush said recently during a stop at the U.S. Army…

Vatican City – Italy’s rabbis said Tuesday they were pulling out of the Italian Catholic Church’s annual celebration of Judaism, saying recent decisions by Pope Benedict XVI were negating 50 years of interfaith progress. The chief rabbi of Venice, Elia Enrico Richetti, cited the pope’s decision to restore a prayer for the conversion of Jews…

Willa Mae Dorsey, whose gospel-singing career lasted 56 years, filled five albums, won her a Grammy nomination and introduced black gospel music to many white congregations, died Jan. 5 at age 75. Dorsey, who was born in Atlanta, lived in Portland, Ore., for almost 40 years. She began singing professionally when she was 19, tackling…

Undeterred by solid Democratic gains in November’s national elections, religious conservatives who oppose abortion are going on the offensive with a new weapon: a sick economy. In its largest-ever state-based initiative, the Family Research Council (FRC) is contacting every state lawmaker in the country with a plea to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, one of…

BOSTON – A new lawsuit claims Catholic bishops are wrongly imposing their beliefs on victims of human trafficking by not letting federal grant money be used for emergency contraception, condoms or abortions. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the complaint Monday in federal court in Boston against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.…

WASHINGTON — After choosing an evangelical pastor to deliver the invocation at his swearing-in, President-elect Barack Obama has chosen two progressive Protestant leaders — a woman and an openly gay bishop– to bookend his inaugural ceremonies. “It reflects his commitment to pluralism,” said Shaun Casey, an ethics professor at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington who…

CLEVELAND (RNS) A group of Cleveland pastors who tried to trigger a referendum to overturn the city’s domestic-partner registry have come up short in their bid for signatures. The group, led by the Rev. C. Jay Matthews of Mount Sinai Baptist Church, needed to submit about 11,000 signatures by Wednesday (Jan. 7) to put the…

NEW YORK — Parents losing their Wall Street jobs, benefactors with plummeting portfolios scaling back on donations — it’s a one-two punch that has sent many Jewish day schools reeling in recent weeks. At the prestigious Ramaz School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the financial forecast has prompted officials to slash the budget for an…

In a December 28, 2008 post to his blog, author Neale Donald Walsch posted an essay under his byline that had actually been written by another writer, Candy Chand. As a result, Mr. Walsch has decided to remove himself from Beliefnet’s blogging roster, a decision we support in order to protect the mission and integrity…

The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, an eminent Catholic intellectual who tutored President Bush in Catholic social teaching and helped build the political coalition that made his election possible, died Thursday (Jan. 8) at age 72. Neuhaus died soon after 10 a.m. of complications from cancer, according to a statement by First Things, the intellectual journal…
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