Latest Religion News
Bulgaria's Orthodox Church elects a new patriarch with pro-Russian views
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church on Sunday elected Daniil, a 52-year-old metropolitan considered to be pro-Russian, as its new leader in a vote that reflected the divisions in the church and wider society since Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago. ...
How will Louisiana's new Ten Commandments classroom requirement be funded and enforced?
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Even as a legal challenge is already underway over a new Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms, the details of how the mandate will be implemented and enforced remain murky. Across the country there have been...
Female suicide bombers kill at least 18 in coordinated attack in Nigeria, authorities say
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Female suicide bombers targeted a wedding, a funeral and a hospital in coordinated attacks in northern Nigeria that killed at least 18 people, local authorities said Sunday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the the attacks in Borno state,...
UNESCO finds Islamic State group-era bombs in Mosul mosque walls, years after the defeat of IS
BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.N. cultural agency has discovered five bombs hidden within the walls of the historic al-Nouri Mosque in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, a remnant of the Islamic State militant group’s rule over the area, UNESCO said in a statement Saturday. The mosque,...
The UN starts to move tons of aid from US-built pier after security fears suspended work there
JERUSALEM (AP) — Humanitarian workers have started moving tons of aid that piled up at a U.S.-built pier off the Gaza coast to warehouses in the besieged Palestinian territory, the United Nations said Saturday, an important step as Washington considers whether to resume pier operations after yet...
Ten Commandments. Multiple variations. Why the Louisiana law raises preferential treatment concerns
Christians and Jews believe in the Ten Commandments — just not necessarily the version that will hang in every public school and state-funded college classroom in Louisiana. The required text prescribed in the new law and used on many monuments around the United States is a...
Dagestani Jews look to rebuild after extremist attacks in the restive region of southern Russia
Jews in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan in southern Russia say they are determined to regroup and rebuild following a deadly attack by Islamic militants on Christian and Jewish houses of worship in two cities last weekend. The attacks in the regional capital of...
What to know about Oklahoma's top education official ordering Bible instruction in schools
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's top education official outraged civil rights groups and others when he ordered public schools to immediately begin incorporating the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12. Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a...
Pope's top adviser, women who say they were abused by ex-Jesuit artist ask for mosaics to be removed
ROME (AP) — The scandal over a famous ex-Jesuit artist who is accused of psychologically, spiritually and sexually abusing adult women came to a head Friday after some of his alleged victims and the pope’s own anti-abuse adviser asked for his artworks not to be promoted or displayed. ...
A decade after the Islamic State group declared a caliphate, it's defeated but remains lethal
BAGHDAD (AP) — A decade after the Islamic State militant group declared its caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria, the extremists no longer control any land, have lost many prominent leaders and are mostly out of the world news headlines. Still, the group continues to recruit...