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SALT LAKE CITY – Brigham Young University has yanked the diploma of a man who created a calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries and was later excommunicated from the church. Chad Hardy of Las Vegas attended graduation ceremonies Aug. 15 after finishing up his last four units of study online in June. But on July 13,…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Catholic-Jewish tensions over Pope Pius XII flared again after a church official suggested on Saturday (Oct. 18) that a Jerusalem museum exhibit about the World War II-era pontiff was an impediment to Israeli-Vatican relations. The statement prompted a response from Israeli President Shimon Peres, and was followed by an Israeli Web site…

(RNS) An Episcopal Church committee voted Friday (Oct. 17) to oust more than 50 California clerics who left the denomination last year to join a more conservative province in the Anglican Communion. The 16 deacons and 36 priests have six months to recant and return to the Episcopal Church before they are defrocked by Bishop…

Jesus, many Christians might tell you, saved their lives. Benyamin Cohen, founder and editor of American Jewish Life and Jewsweek, credits the carpenter with helping to save his faith. At first glance, you might think Cohen’s story would be markedly different from most (unless, of course, you too are the son of an Orthodox rabbi…

PARIS – France’s main Jewish organization warned on Friday that Church efforts to make wartime Pope Pius XII a saint would deal “a severe blow” to relations between Catholics and Jews. The warning from the umbrella organization of French Jewish groups, or CRIF, comes as the Vatican is mounting an aggressive campaign to refute decades-old…

HERSHEY, Pa. — A group of twentysomethings at the Evangelical Free Church of Hershey spoke admiringly about Barack Obama’s eloquence, his impulse to heal divides and his historic campaign as a black man nominated for the presidency. But only one of the four in this key battleground state was even leaning toward voting for the…

A Seattle Episcopal priest who claims to be both Christian and Muslim has been restricted from public ministry and will be defrocked unless she “reclaims” Christianity by next April, the Episcopal Church announced. The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding has “abandoned” the Episcopal Church by formally joining a faith “not in communion” with the national church,…

When Carl Anderson publicly rebuked Sen. Joe Biden last month for opposing the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion, Anderson said he was speaking “on behalf of the 1.28 million” Knights of Columbus in the U.S. Everyone, that is, except for Knights like Rick Gebhard of Manistee, Mich. Gebhard, a 36-year-old public school teacher, says he…

Halloween’s a time for pumpkins, costumes, and — if some faith-based groups have their way this year — global market awareness. Faith organizations and congregations around the country are promoting fair-trade chocolate for trick-or-treaters to raise consciousness about conditions and prices for cocoa farmers around the world. “This is an example of how everybody has…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) After being hired as a driver for UPS Freight, Nieland Bynoe, a Rastafarian, attended an orientation meeting last year and was told that he would have to shave his beard and cut off his dreadlocks to comply with the company’s grooming policy. Bynoe, of Harrisburg, told company officials the next day that…

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