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Churches & Religion

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis reaches out to hug Cardinal Archbishop emeritus Theodore McCarrick after the Midday Prayer of the Divine with more than 300 U.S. Bishops at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington. The retired archbishop of Washington, D.C. has been removed from public ministry over allegations he sexually abused a teenager while a priest in New York more than 40 years ago.

Cardinal McCarrick, ex-archbishop, hit with abuse claim

June 20, 2018, 8:47am Churches & Religion

The retired Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., has been removed from public ministry and faces further punishment over a "credible" allegation that he sexually abused a teenager while a priest in New York more than 40 years ago, the church said Wednesday. Read story

The Most Rev. Michael Curry, left, administers communion to Andrew Coxcollins and Lisa Collins at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Vancouver on Sunday. Curry, as presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church of the United States, is the leader of the church’s clergy.

Bishop Curry at St. Luke’s in Vancouver: ‘Love is the cure’

June 17, 2018, 7:41pm Churches & Religion

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church nearly packed both Sunday morning services for a visit from the Most Rev. Michael Curry, who sermonized on the power of love, keeping with a theme from his sermon at the royal wedding in May, where many first discovered his ebullient style. Read story

Catholics now have outdoor wedding options

June 17, 2018, 6:05am Churches & Religion

The outdoor wedding, stuff of girlhood fantasy and bridal-magazine photography, has long been off-limits to most Catholics. Read story

Segregated services cause clash at church

June 16, 2018, 6:00am Churches & Religion

What started as an attempt to modernize a Georgia church led to expulsion from Southern Baptist Convention on the grounds of racism. Read story

This is what some people think God looks like, based on a UNC Chapel Hill study. The image on the left is what young participants in the study imagined. The one on the right was imagined by older participants in the study.

Study creates a mug of God

June 16, 2018, 5:11am Churches & Religion

We now know what God might look like — or at least what a group of extremely brave psychologists are suggesting, based on research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Read story

A Palestinian boy wearing a traditional uniform stands in front of Muslim women performing Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Eastern Gaza City on Friday.

Gaza residents pray near Israel, as Muslims mark major feast

June 15, 2018, 9:56am Churches & Religion

Several thousand Gaza worshippers knelt on prayer rugs spread on sandy soil, near the perimeter fence with Israel, joining hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world Friday in marking the holiday that caps the fasting month of Ramadan. Read story

Former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson poses for a photo in Fort Worth, Texas. The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., heads into its annual meeting next week facing what one senior leader calls a “horrifying #MeToo moment.” A series of sexual misconduct cases within the SBC has prompted its socially conservative, all-male leadership to seek forgiveness for the ill-treatment of women. Illustrating the SBC’s predicament, the featured sermon at next week’s meeting is scheduled to be delivered by Patterson, the central figure in the most prominent of the troubling #MeToo cases.

#MeToo cases loom as Southern Baptists convene

June 12, 2018, 3:30pm Churches & Religion

DALLAS -- The Southern Baptist Convention opened its annual national meeting Tuesday in an anxious mood as the denomination's all-male leadership grappled with the fallout of multiple sexual misconduct cases. Read story

FILE - In this Thursday, June 5, 2008 file photo, books from the three monotheistic religions, clockwise from bottom left, the Bible, a Jewish Siddour, several copies of the New Testament and the Quran are seen on a table at a prison built for potential inmates at the Palexpo in Geneva, Switzerland. A new study suggests Christians in western Europe are less accepting of immigrants and non-Christians than people without religious affiliations.

Study: Christians in west Europe less tolerant of immigrants

June 9, 2018, 6:05am Churches & Religion

Christians in western Europe are less accepting of immigrants and non-Christians than people without religious affiliations, a study based on a 15-country survey found. Read story

Mormon church President Russell M. Nelson shakes hands with Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP during a news conference, in Salt Lake City on May 17.

Mormon church continues to grapple with race

June 9, 2018, 6:00am Churches & Religion

The Mormon church on June 1 celebrated the 40th anniversary of reversing its ban on black people serving in the lay priesthood, going on missions or getting married in temples, rekindling debate about one of the faith’s most sensitive topics. Read story

China steps up its ‘training’ of Tibetan clergy, officials

June 6, 2018, 10:28pm Churches & Religion

Chinese authorities are ramping up political indoctrination among Tibetan Buddhist clergy and officials in charge of religious affairs as part of a campaign to strengthen the ruling Communist Party’s grip on religion. Read story