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WASHINGTON (RNS) An evangelical-progressive coalition has developed an agenda aimed at moving beyond past divisions on hot-button social issues to seek policy changes on abortion, torture and other issues. After two years of discussion, they have concluded that their “Come Let Us Reason Together” agenda will include reducing abortion, protecting employment rights of gays and…

Los Angeles – Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi never imagined that her 2007 documentary about evangelical America would give her a front row seat to the downfall of one of its biggest stars, megachurch pastor Ted Haggard. She also couldn’t have predicted just how closely her life would become intertwined with Haggard’s. The two met in 2006…

New York – A Vatican evaluation of U.S. Roman Catholic seminaries in response to the clergy sex abuse scandal concluded that administrators have largely been effective in rooting out “homosexual behavior” in the schools, although the agency said it persists. The Congregation for Catholic Education sought a broad review of how the schools screen and…

Washington – The Bush administration is racing in its final moments to negotiate a deal with Israel that might allow the Jewish state to agree to a cease-fire with the militant Hamas movement and end its military operation in Gaza. On the administration’s second-to-last work day before President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, the two sides were…

CLEVELAND — Growing up in culturally diverse Shaker Heights, Ohio, the Rev. David Owens, a 48-year-old African-American, saw little interaction between blacks and Jews. Color, creed and class differences seemed too great to overcome. But Owens has seen a big change. His congregation, the Body of Christ Assembly Heights Church, and another black congregation, Abundant…

WASHINGTON (RNS) An interfaith coalition of religious groups has asked President-elect Barack Obama to sign an executive order banning torture on his first day in office. Members of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture sent Obama a letter with their request on Friday (Jan. 9) and met with members of his transition team on Wednesday.…

WASHINGTON — Throughout his eight years in the Oval Office, President Bush frequently made public references to God, but instead of always using the traditional Judeo-Christian term for the divine, he often chose the more generic “Almighty.” “We can be confident because freedom is universal,” Bush said recently during a stop at the U.S. Army…

Vatican City – Italy’s rabbis said Tuesday they were pulling out of the Italian Catholic Church’s annual celebration of Judaism, saying recent decisions by Pope Benedict XVI were negating 50 years of interfaith progress. The chief rabbi of Venice, Elia Enrico Richetti, cited the pope’s decision to restore a prayer for the conversion of Jews…

Willa Mae Dorsey, whose gospel-singing career lasted 56 years, filled five albums, won her a Grammy nomination and introduced black gospel music to many white congregations, died Jan. 5 at age 75. Dorsey, who was born in Atlanta, lived in Portland, Ore., for almost 40 years. She began singing professionally when she was 19, tackling…

Undeterred by solid Democratic gains in November’s national elections, religious conservatives who oppose abortion are going on the offensive with a new weapon: a sick economy. In its largest-ever state-based initiative, the Family Research Council (FRC) is contacting every state lawmaker in the country with a plea to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, one of…
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