Mainstream or religious, conservative or liberal media agree: The recent birth control brouhaha -- should the HHS mandate faith-affiliated hospitals and schools to have contraceptives covered by their health insurance providers? -- is a pitched battle between religious liberty and reproductive rights. Professionally, as a religion reporter weary...

Mormons and Muslims: brothers from another mother? Think about it: Judaism and Christianity updated by a controversial new prophet, the prohibitions on alcohol, the historical polygamy, homophobia, etc. By some estimates -- without a U.S. Census asking about religion, this is always a tricky thing to nail down -- their...

The 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks is a few weeks away, and American Muslims, interfaith advocates and the mainstream media are switching to offense against the inevitable Islamophobia kicked up by this tragic day.

Life goes on in bustling New York City and Washington...

Two years ago, Muslim American pals Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq impulsively ventured out of their Harlem neighborhood to visit a different mosque in New York City each night of Ramadan, Islam's holy month of daytime fasting and reflection. Inspired by the diversity they discovered and encouraged by a growing...

The Catholic Church isn't the only denomination that has struggled with the concept of reporting accusations of child sexual abuse to the police, rather than trying to handle as much as possible internally in deference to ancient religious laws and the avoidance of scandal. Hasn't every religious group -- or...

More than 50 years after fleeing the Chinese military and setting up the Tibetan government in exile, the Dalai Lama retired from his political responsibilities this year. It was a widely anticipated and somewhat anticlimactic move, given his age and stagnated Free Tibet efforts against a globally rising China. But...

Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, aka Amma the Hugging Saint, kicked off her 25th North American tour with a six-plus hour hug-a-thon in a suburban Seattle hotel ballroom on May 27.

There's more to Amma's bliss than just a sandalwood-scented cuddle: her Embracing the World charity has raised millions for global...

Why does Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput refuse to speak to The New York Times? Laurie Goodstein, the newspaper's national religion correspondent, got her chance to ask him directly during his appearance at the Religion Newswriters Association conference Friday (Sept. 24) morning.

To Goodstein's surprise, Chaput's beef with the Gray...

With all the challenges we face today, somehow the big news this week has been that one out of every five Americans thinks President Obama is a secret Muslim. Apparently, quoting Scripture and attending church for decades just can't compete with having Hussein as your middle name and semi-supporting the...

Everything in, above and around Ground Zero is personal for Tim Brown, a retired New York City firefighter who used to work at the World Trade Center and lost dozens of friends on Sept. 11, 2001. Walking the perimeter of the fenced-off construction site prompts bitter complaints about the bureaucratic...

By Nicole Neroulias
Religion News Service

(RNS) More than 100 gay and lesbian Jewish leaders recently wrapped up a meeting in Berkeley, Calif., to develop a unified agenda for gay rights within American Judaism. Rabbi Steven Greenberg, who's often called the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, was among them.

Talking with Stephen Prothero, author of God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World -- And Why Their Differences Matter, is like watching those Miller Lite commercials where tempers flare over the "Great Taste!" vs. "Less Filling!" properties of the beer:

What seems like an...

By NICOLE NEROULIAS
Religion News Service

(RNS) As Sholom Rubashkin sits in an Iowa jail awaiting a possible life sentence on fraud charges related to his now-defunct kosher meat business, his ultra-Orthodox Jewish support base has ramped up protests over his case.

Through an online petition, media outreach, Facebook...