“There are several prominent pulpits in which women are now coming into those jobs, and it’s an indication society is shifting in many different ways,” says the Reverend Amy Butler, first female senior pastor of the Riverside Church in Manhattan. “Women are increasingly moving into leadership roles in other parts of our society, and it’s time for that to happen in the church.” More →

September 25, 2014

“We are at the point in institutional church where we don’t know what the future is going to look like. I hope at the Riverside Church we can create a community of people who allow for innovation and for exploration.” More →

September 25, 2014

“The three pulpits that are historically important in mainline Protestantism have women senior pastors now is a very big deal,” observes scholar and author Diana Butler Bass. “It is hard to imagine as recently as even 20 years ago that women would have achieved that level of leadership. It signals a change in American Protestantism.” More →

September 25, 2014

“There are no scriptural barriers to the ordination of women,” says Jane Via, a Roman Catholic woman priest in San Diego. But theology professor Thomas Rausch maintains that “the Catholic Church is not ready for the ordination of women right now.” More →

January 11, 2013

RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY profiles Peter Steinfels — Catholic, THE NEW YORK TIMES religion columnist, and author of the book A PEOPLE ADRIFT. Steinfels discusses the challenges facing the U.S. Catholic Church, from the sex abuse scandal to ordination of women, which he fears may send the church into an “irreversible decline” if they are not acted upon. More →

October 3, 2003

Read more of Bob Abernethy’s interview with Peter Steinfels about his book A PEOPLE ADRIFT: THE CRISIS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AMERICA. More →

October 3, 2003

Sometimes-controversial Archbishop Rowan Williams took over in December 2002 as head of the more than 70 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion. Williams will be formally enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury in February 2003. More →

February 21, 2003

At its meeting in Corpus Christi, the huge Texas Baptist Convention — nearly one fifth of all Southern Baptists — sent a strong signal of discontent to the national SBC. Led by moderates, the Texans voted overwhelmingly to cut $5 million of the $25 million they send the national group each year. More →

November 3, 2000