By JACK JENKINS c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) Goshen College will no longer play The Star-Spangled Banner at sporting events, school leaders announced, reversing last year’s decision to allow the use of the national anthem for the first time in the Mennonite college’s history. Some Mennonites had criticized the anthem’s lyrics as glorifying war…

By DEBRA RUBIN c. 2011 Religion News Service SILVER SPRING, Md. (RNS) Saraleah was 19 and a part-time student when she discovered she was pregnant. She didn’t know how it could have happened — until she flashed back to a party nine weeks earlier where she was given a drink, realized it was vodka and…

By ADELLE M. BANKS c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) Southern Baptists meeting in Phoenix adopted a plan Tuesday (June 14) to try to boost minorities in their top leadership posts as they face continuing reports of stagnant baptism rates and declining membership. Members of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination backed the recommendation for intentionally…

By PETER KENNY c. 2011 Religion News Service GENEVA (RNS) The Obama administration’s new envoy for international religious freedom told a U.N. commission on Tuesday (June 14) that government, political, religious and business leaders must stand ready to condemn hateful ideology. Borrowing from recent headlines, Ambassador-at-Large Suzan Johnson Cook cited a Florida pastor who had…

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