"To me, the idea of a church offering an economic well-being award makes perfect sense," says Bay Ridge United Methodist Church pastor Robert Emerick. The idea of offering a prize for the best explanation about why the economy is doing so poorly compared to a generation ago started when Rev. Emerick ...

Sharing a special meal and performing rituals of spiritual cleansing help Tibetan Buddhists get ready for the upcoming new year.

A conversation about the US measles outbreak; parents who refuse to vaccinate their children based on personal beliefs; and an organization called Final Salute that meets the needs of homeless women veterans and their children.

“There’s really no widespread religious objection to the [measles] vaccine…It’s that I have a belief that these vaccines are harmful, or that they don’t work, or I don’t believe that somebody else should be telling me how to raise my kids,” says Religion News Service editor-in-chief ...

In most states, parents can choose not to vaccinate their children based on a personal or religious objection. It's a choice that has begun raising concerns about the ethics of refusal and the rising risk of outbreaks.

People from many faiths gathered in Washington for the 63rd annual National Prayer Breakfast, including the Dalai Lama. One major theme this year was fighting religious extremism, which President Obama said "is not unique to one group or one religion."

A new program encourages seminaries and divinity schools to teach more science; a community organizer helps improve living conditions for the very poor in India’s sprawling slums and around the world; a famous Trappist monk, poet, activist, contemplative, and prolific writer would have been 100 ...

"If our earth is not the only inhabitable world, what does that imply?" asks Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “That’s an exciting question and the kind of thing I hope will be discussed ...

Jockin Arputham started his campaign to build a network among the urban poor by organizing a critical mass of India's slum-dwelling population, especially women’s collectives. Today they pressure local governments to be more responsive to their needs, especially toilet and sanitation facilities.

"With the death of Thomas Merton, we lost really one of the great Catholic voices, one of the great prophetic figures within the Catholic Church. And I think that’s why his books are still selling, why they’re still being translated because that message is as relevant today as when he wrote it," ...

Religious reaction to the State of the Union speech; a historic Eastern Orthodox seminary in Turkey that religious freedom activists want reopened; singer, songwriter, and spiritual seeker Bruce Cockburn

Social justice and civil rights activists had a lot to like in President Obama's address, but religious conservatives were concerned by the “reframing” of issues such as gay marriage as matters of freedom and justice.

"We are confident that someday this school will reopen, and we have to prepare ourselves for that day," says Metropolitan Elpidophoros, the abbot of Halki. He has reestablished a monastery at the site of the distinguished Eastern Orthodox seminary closed by the Turkish government for 43 years.

"I don’t see how you can have a relationship with God that doesn’t involve a state of receptivity—and a receptivity to lots of stuff, because God does show up in all kinds of odd ways."

Muslims respond to renewed debates about Islam and extremism; a charity in India provides free orthopedic care to poor people with disabilities and missing limbs; church leaders in Ferguson, Missouri, try to help their divided community heal

Muslims around the world are "the only ones that can actually win this battle because it is about an extremist ideology that they are going to have to stand up against," says Haris Tarin, director of the Washington office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Church leaders are building bridges among divided communities in the wake of violent protests and lingering tensions.

As the movie opens today (January 9) in theaters around the country amidst controversy over its portrayal of former president Lyndon Johnson, we speak with director Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo, the actor who portrays Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., about what it means to them to tell the story of ...

Controversy over experiments conducted by social media companies—like Facebook—on their users; interfaith families that observe the religious traditions of more than one faith; and celebrating Orthodox Epiphany at the Jordan River

Some social media companies—including Facebook—have run experiments to learn what influences user behavior. Many of these experiments have troubled both social media users and privacy advocates, who worry that this research and use of personal information is unethical.