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Today is the 2010 Summer Solstice, the northern hemisphere’s longest day of sunlight, spiritually significant for practitioners of nature-based religions — Wiccans, contemporary Pagans, Druids, Native American/First Nations cultures, etc. (The timing of this ancient observance, sometimes called Midsummer, also factors into the Christian celebration of the Feast of St. John later this week, and other annual…

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about conflicts within religious groups, here’s the most heated intrafaith debate making news these days: is criticism of Israel tantamount to anti-Semitism, and if so, what does that make Jews who criticize Israel? The first part of that question has gotten quite a bit of coverage in the wake of the international outcry…

No contest this time — the most entertaining religion news this week has been the saga of the Ohio church’s giant “King of Kings” statue, nicknamed “Touchdown Jesus.” The 62-foot structure was completely destroyed by a lightning strike Monday (an “act of God” that begat a thousand or so headlines); church officials vow that he will rise again.…

Among all the usual religion reporting on interfaith conflicts or cooperation, two intrafaith disputes are making headlines from their respective “base” countries: an ultra-Orthodox Jewish protest in Israel over the religious integration of a school for girls in a West Bank settlement, and stunned reactions over the Archbishop of Caterbury’s treatment of Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori…

At the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, representatives passed a resolution expressing — as expected, based on Southern Baptist Theological Seminary dean Russell D. Moore’s previous statements — dismay over BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. They also affirmed opposition to the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy against openly gay…

President Obama has picked the Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook, a Baptist pastor from the Bronx — she’s previously been described by The New York Times as “Billy Graham and Oprah rolled into one” — as his nominee to fill the position of Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom. He also named two other appointees to the U.S. Commission…

In President Obama’s first speech from the Oval Office last night, which On Faith considers to be his most religious speech as president so far, he called on Americans to rally behind energy reform legislation in the wake of the continuing Gulf Coast devastation from the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion. From the faith-related…

While the Los Angeles headlines have been dominated by the Kobe Bryant and the Lakers’ “desperate” quest for an NBA title win against the Celtics, the region’s religion news is considerably more grim: newly released court documents confirm that L.A. Cardinal Mahony admitted in a sworn deposition to sheltering an abusive priest during the 1980s. (This news comes…

The religion beat has suffered more than its share of budget cuts and turnover in recent years, so I was pleasantly surprised to see both major American weekly news magazines feature faith-based cover stories recently. Unfortunately, religion and journalism experts have found plenty of overgeneralizations, missed angles and other problems with both Time magazine’s May 27 piece on “Why…

A few years after giving readers a crash course in Religious Literacy, Boston University professor Stephen Prothero’s new lesson plan focuses on debunking the theory that all religions are just different paths to the same goal (heaven, enlightenment, salvation, etc.). His new book, God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World…
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