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Religion News Service WASHINGTON — Years from now, when researchers wonder what people preached about at the time of President Obama’s inauguration, they’ll know what the Rev. Christopher Rodkey of Lebanon, Pa., had to say. He’s one of more than 250 people who sent in sermons and orations to the Library of Congress, whose American…

(UNDATED) The former Mormon who was excommunicated for publishing a calendar of half-naked Mormon missionaries said Friday (March 6) he will sue a church-owned university for denying him a degree — and plans to publish two risque new calendars. Chad Hardy, a former missionary and sixth-generation member of the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints,…

TORONTO (RNS) Canadian researchers have found that strong religious convictions can lower stress and enhance the performance of basic tasks. A team in Toronto put 28 students through tests measuring both levels of religious observance and stress caused by making mistakes on a test. The newly published study by professors at the University of Toronto…

A few years ago, the question was What Would Jesus Do? Later it became What Would Jesus Drive? Now, with the economy in freefall because of a collapse in home values, the question seems to be: Whom Would Jesus Bailout? Under a plan unveiled Wednesday (March 4), the White House hopes to avert as many…

New York – More than 40 years after they traveled to India to study transcendental meditation, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will reunite for the cause. The only two surviving Beatles, who rarely appear in public together, will perform at “Paul McCartney and Friends: Change Begins Within,” an April 4 benefit at New York’s Radio…

San Francisco – Advocates on both sides of the gay marriage issue demonstrated outside California’s highest court Thursday before justices heard arguments on lawsuits seeking to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex nuptials. Supporters of gay marriage carried rainbow flags and banners that urged the overturning of voter-approved Proposition 8, which took away the right…

Membership has waned in the nation’s largest Christian bodies– the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention — while mainline Protestant churches continue to shrink, according to the “Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.” With more than 67 million members, the Catholic Church continues to far outnumber other American denominations. But Catholics lost nearly…

WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious groups are divided over a lawsuit filed Tuesday (March 3) to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which gay groups claim unconstitutionally denies them the rights and responsibilities given to straight married couples. The Clinton-era law prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages or providing federal benefits to same-sex couples.…

(RNS) Purim, the noisiest Jewish holiday of the year, has become more accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired worshippers, as a growing number of synagogues now use a PowerPoint program developed for the festival, which falls on March 10 this year. The “Purim for the Deaf” slideshow, launched in five synagogues in 2003, will be used…

Rome – The Vatican sought Tuesday to show that it isn’t opposed to science and evolutionary theory, hosting a conference on Charles Darwin and trying to debunk the idea that it embraces creationism or intelligent design. Some of the world’s top biologists, paleontologists and molecular geneticists joined theologians and philosophers for the five-day seminar marking…
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