Religion News Service

Signs of the Times: I am afraid that others may soon respond to mass shootings that same way I do, the same way we do to other gun violence — ignore it and move on. No matter how horrible something is, if it is repeated time and time again, we get accustomed to it.

The change marked a 180-degree turn for a ministry founded on fundamentalist Protestantism ministry founded on fundamentalist Protestantism that has separated Catholics and Protestants in this region of the South for generations.

As the nation marks the 400th anniversary of the forced arrival of Africans in Virginia — and Alabama has its bicentennial — a walk through Montgomery's streets reveals the legacy of slavery in America.

A who's who of black history figures worshiped and spoke at Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church — including abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth — when it was at earlier locations after its founding in 1796 or at its current neo-Gothic site on 137th Street in Harlem.

Signs of the Times: American Catholics are almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, which means the church can either self-destruct or bridge the partisan divide.

In 2013, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago held the single largest giving campaign in its history, bringing in pledges totaling $427 million.

With two biological children at home already, Noemi Amezcua, then not yet 30, asked her priest how she could get more involved in her community.

 A coalition of 430 human rights, civil rights, foreign policy and faith organizations has submitted a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to dismantle his department’s new Commission on Unalienable Rights.

Signs of the Times: The purpose of this memo is to inform you of an upcoming raid to arrest a woman living in New York City who we plan to send back to her country of origin, France.

Where humans go, faith seems to follow. It’s no less true of NASA’s first manned mission to land on the moon.

Trump administration officials announced a new alliance with U.S. partners focused on religious freedom.

Signs of the Times: In appointing seven women to the Vatican congregation that oversees religious orders July 9, Pope Francis achieved a double win. In one stroke, he has advanced both the role of women in the church and the reform of the Vatican Curia.

Leaders from three Abrahamic faiths shared their own stories of experiencing religious violence in the past year.

China, Iran and other countries that the U.S. considers the most egregious religious liberty violators aren’t invited to the State Department’s second summit on religious freedom this week.

The U.S. ambassador on religious freedom issues defended the State Department's second summit on global religious liberty against critics who say the first summit failed to accomplish much.

Signs of the Times: Because of the apocalyptic consequences of global warming, many are hoping for a miracle from God or science to save us from ourselves. Maggots may be part of that miracle.

The pactice could soon be a thing of the past, but a ban on sanctifying weapons of mass destruction is unlikely to affect the intertwining of Russia’s armed forces — including its nuclear forces — with the Russian Orthodox Church under President Vladimir Putin.

German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller's critiques of the working document for the synod of bishops, scheduled for this fall, is closer to heresy than anything in the instrumentum laboris, writes Charles Camosy.

Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both addressed a Christian pro-Israel group July 8, lifting up the U.S. ally as a bastion of inclusivity and railing against Iran.

Research suggests that constantly staring at screens may be making us more distracted, distant, drained and lonely. Some are realizing that lighting candles, inviting people over, sharing a meal and logging off may guard against those things.