Religion

Andrea and Leslie Isham got married last year during a drag show at a night club in Tennessee by a friend who was ordained online. A new law in the state seeks to ban online ordinations.

Tennessee Lawmakers Aim To Ban Weddings By Internet-Ordained Ministers

8:26am July 13, 2019

by Sergio Martínez-Beltrán

Tennessee lawmakers passed a law to ban officiants ordained online from performing legal marriages in the state. But this month a judge said they can continue temporarily.

Visiting A Historic Mosque In North Dakota

8:26am July 13, 2019

by Leila Fadel

A mosque in the United States was built on a North Dakota prairie in the 1920s. Today the descendants of those families share that history with new American Muslims.

1A Across America: Migrant Aid Divides Congregations

2:10pm July 11, 2019

Many faith groups are stepping up to fill the demand for volunteers and resources at the southern border. But not all believers are on board.

People attend a demonstration calling on the government to rescue the kidnapped girls of the government secondary school in Chibok, in Abuja, Nigeria on Oct. 14, 2014.

Girls Captured By Boko Haram Brought Into Focus In 'Beneath The Tamarind Tree'

1:57pm July 10, 2019

by Lily Meyer

Former CNN journalist Isha Sesay argues that the Nigerian government, the media and the public have failed the 276 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist group five years ago.

Man Charged With Online Threat To Lynch Muslim Candidate

4:14pm July 01, 2019

by Associated Press

A North Carolina man has been charged with posting an anonymous threat on social media to lynch a Muslim-American candidate for a state Senate seat in Virginia.

Religion

U.S. Methodists Consider What Comes Next After Disagreements Over LGBT Clergy

7:33pm June 26, 2019

by Tom Gjelten

Methodists around the U.S. have been engaged in tense discussions over the future of their church. The denomination may split because of disagreements over same sex weddings and LGBT clergy.

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Cathedral High School leadership in Indianapolis says Archbishop Charles Thompson issued "direct guidance" that the school fire a teacher in a same-sex marriage or forfeit its Catholic identity.

Catholic School Fires Gay Teacher To Stay In Indianapolis Archdiocese

2:00pm June 25, 2019

by Merrit Kennedy

The school says not terminating the teacher would have resulted in "our forfeiting our Catholic identity." Last week, a nearby Jesuit school decided to split with the archdiocese instead.

Amber Scorah writes about exiting the Jehovah's Witnesses in Leaving the Witness.

'I Couldn't Continue On': A Former Jehovah's Witness On Leaving The Faith

7:17pm June 24, 2019

by Terry Gross

"I felt like everything that had mattered to me was gone," Amber Scorah says of her decision to leave the Jehovah's Witness community she grew up in. Her new memoir is Leaving the Witness.

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Religion

High Court Rules Cross May Stand On Public Land

6:30am June 21, 2019

by Nina Totenberg

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot cross could stand on public land in Maryland because of its historical significance as a World War I memorial.

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The sanctuary at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, in Birmingham, Ala. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed legislation permitting the church to hire its own police force.

New Alabama Law Permits Church To Hire Its Own Police Force

11:34pm June 20, 2019

by Richard Gonzales

A mega-church says it needs its own police for security. Critics say the law will grant state authority to church officials and is unconstitutional, violating the separation of church and state.