How do we repair what race has broken; We look at the role of deacons in the Catholic Church—the men who serve and the women who want to serve; A new pipe organ in a seminary chapel warmly sings and … More →

“We need to deal with the unconscious beliefs that we have about each other,” says Lisa Sharon Harper, author of The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can be Made Right. “We can’t restructure our society and actually begin to heal what race broke until we understand how our society ...

“We had the exact same training – two nights a week, one weekend a month, summer internships. I wrote every paper he wrote,” says Maureen Garvey, who along with her husband took classes to prepare for the diaconate. “The only thing that was different was the day of ordination, I had tears in ...

"What we were looking for is an organ that sings, an organ that has a warm, mellow sound that accompanies singing,” says Rev. William Bradley Roberts, professor of church music and director of chapel music at Virginia Theological Seminary.

Houses of worship try to balance the need for security with the desire to welcome; and the award-winning gospel artist talks about faith, failure, and “making God famous.”    

We look back at the High Court’s completed term, defined in many ways by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia; it’s coming up on the 10th anniversary of the murder of five Amish girls killed in their schoolhouse in Nickel … More →

As it wrapped up its current term this week, the US Supreme Court handed down a number of decisions important to religious communities on issues including immigration, abortion, and affirmative action.

“This is nearly 10 years after the tragedy,” says Terri Roberts, the mother of Charlie Roberts, who murdered five Amish school girls in 2006, “and here I am. I’m alive and I am able to move forward because of the response of the Amish, because of forgiveness. I believe that so much light has ...

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia describes the rituals and spiritual significance of Eid al-Fitr, the three-day festival marking the end of the month-long Ramadan fast.

Donald Trump meets with evangelicals while interfaith activists protest his candidacy; The LDS Church says caring for anyone in need is the right thing to do; Sixty-five years ago, these American friends moved to avoid the draft, live peaceably, and … More →

While the presumptive Republican nominee for president told evangelicals he is “a tremendous believer,” interfaith protests, vigils, and press conferences questioned the candidate’s religious claims and assertions.

“The idea of caring for those who are in need we consider to be a scriptural mandate,” says Steve Peterson, managing director of the Mormon Church’s welfare system. “And that’s grown into a wonderful program worldwide that focuses on caring for those in need, to relieve suffering, and to ...

“I was looking for a place where I could practice empathy,” says Randall Smith. “I’m looking for a place to practice tolerance. I’m looking for a place to practice compassion, love, truth. What I found in the Friends community is a place to do that that is safe, that is a very large tent. ...

Some mosques use the month of Ramadan as an opportunity to educate friends and neighbors about Islam. The Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia encourages members of its congregation to bring non-Muslim friends to their iftar dinners, the meal that breaks the fast during ...

Faith communities respond to the latest mass shooting; the presumptive Republican nominee faces a sharply divided evangelical vote; and many refugees are finding a home in conservative Utah.    

Muslim leaders spoke out this week after the massacre in Orlando. “We condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “It violates our principles as Americans and as Muslims.” And Sayyid Syeed, national director ...

“It’s not just evangelicals,” says John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. “There are other pieces of the Republican Party that are in disarray as well. But because evangelicals play just a central role at the ballot box, that has to be a ...

“We really need to free dying from the hospital and take it back into the community where it belongs,” said Dr. VJ Periyakoil, director of palliative care education and training at Stanford University School of Medicine.

“We’re here as a sign of God’s presence,” says Father Edwin Leahy, headmaster of St. Benedict’s Prep School in Newark, New Jersey. “That’s who we are as monks. We take a vow of stability of place, so even though the neighborhoods change around us on a regular basis, we stay.”

They provide quick money when banks do not, but they also target and trap the very poor; women lead prayers, preach sermons, and serve together at this all-female mosque—the first of its kind in the US; and a community church … More →