Updated at 6 p.m. to add more links. U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker has struck down Proposition 8, California’s 2008 ban on same-sex marriages, finding it unconstitutional. It’s the latest battle lost in the conservative Christian war on gay marriage — see my July 22 post for other recent examples. The L.A. Times reports that this…

In a unanimous vote and with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s blessing, New York City’s landmarks commission has withheld historic protection from the downtown building slated to become Park51, a kind of Muslim-based YMCA. (Recently rebranded from its Cordoba House name, but still better known as the “Ground Zero Mosque,” though the 13-story building is two blocks north of Ground Zero…

I thought crossing the country with a teething toddler, while still trying to crank journalism out between major family festivities, was exhausting. Good thing I’m not a priest/pastor/minister/rabbi — they’ve apparently got it worse! (I wonder how the compensation compares…) The New York Times reports on the growing problem of clergy burnout: Members of the…

I’m a religion reporter with a personal and professional interest in interfaith families, but I was put off by the endless speculation and random weighing-in about Chelsea Clinton’s wedding ceremony these past few weeks. (Though, to be fair, what seemed like a national obsession in the Clintons’ neck of the woods, where I’ve been staying, was…

More from Beliefnet and our partners
More from Beliefnet and our partners