WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned teachers who work at church-run schools from filing discrimination lawsuits against their employers, ruling that the Constitution’s protection for religious liberty exempts church schools from state and federal anti-discrimination laws.

SEATTLE — Joseph Castleberry, president of Northwest University, an evangelical school in Kirkland, Washington, was sitting at his desk in early May when he started seeing Facebook posts about a Black man killed while jogging through a coastal Georgia town.

Have you ever done something wrong? Of course you have! We all have. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

NEW YORK — Black Roman Catholics are hearing their church’s leaders calling for racial justice once again after the killing of George Floyd, but this time they’re demanding not just words but action.

SPOKANE, Wash. — Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho is suing a group of anti-abortion protesters who lead frequent religious services outside the health care provider’s Spokane clinic, alleging the noisy demonstrations have interfered with treatment and intimidated pati…

AUBURN HILLS (AP) — A music director at a Catholic church in suburban Detroit said she was fired for being in a same-sex marriage.

The Bible records the words written so long ago by the writer of Proverbs: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34)

BOISE, Idaho — One of Boise’s largest churches is removing a controversial reminder of Idaho’s connections to the Confederacy – a stained-glass window featuring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

LUDINGTON — The coronavirus pandemic has caused obstacles for the Oceana/Mason County Inmate & Family Ministries (OMCIFM) leadership. But they are determined to find different avenues to reach inmates, their families and the public with their message of hope.

Catholic schools have faced tough times for years, but the pace of closures is accelerating dramatically amid economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, sparking heartbreak and anger in scores of affected communities.

PHILADELPHIA — It used to be that David Kushner would receive a call to report to one of the area’s Jewish funeral homes once every few weeks. In the pandemic, his phone has buzzed every single day, sometimes more than once.

Several weeks ago, I was watching a television program on C-SPAN. At the time I had no idea how timely the broadcast of that show would be. I wish that all Americans could watch that program because the lecture by historian Jonathan White portrays the way all people of every race should trea…

BALTIMORE — When the Rev. Jeffrey Dauses was starting out in his life as a Catholic priest, tradition held that the parents of a newly ordained young man should give him a special gift to mark the occasion: the chalice, or goblet, he’d use to offer Holy Communion to the faithful.

WASHINGTON — The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., sharply criticized President Donald Trump for staging a visit to the historic St. John’s Church across from the White House, where he held up a Bible after authorities had cleared the area of peaceful protesters.

DALLAS — Wylie (Texas) Mayor Eric Hogue says he believes women can do “anything and everything” – so long as they don’t lead public displays of religion.

The relationship between faith and science has faced its share of strain during the coronavirus pandemic — but for some scientists leading the nation’s response, the two have worked in concert.

For the first time in two months, there was clapping, singing and fellowship inside Stithton Baptist Church in Radcliff, Kentucky, as members of the congregation returned to the sanctuary for Sunday morning services.

GRAND RAPIDS — After more than two months of closure to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, parishes in the Diocese of Grand Rapids will be able to resume public masses on Friday, May 29.

The coronavirus will forever change our society from higher education to sports to organized religion. All of these changes will, perhaps, not be positive but some good things will come out of this pandemic.

CHICAGO — He was scared and had good reason to be. He was over age 60. He had health issues. And the global COVID-19 death toll was mounting.

DETROIT — The first week of April, the Rev. Kenneth Flowers had a slight dry cough, body aches and a bad headache. His 90-year-old mother he helped take care of had tested positive for the coronavirus a few days earlier, and so he asked his doctor whether he should get a test.

Diocesan seminarian Noah Thelen of Grand Haven will be ordained to the Order of Deacons today by Bishop David John Walkowiak.

CHICAGO — A group of Catholics from the Archdiocese of Chicago have started a daily prayer service, called A Call to Prayer, to allow people to pray with others while church buildings remain closed during the pandemic.

DALLAS — As the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Dallas (Texas) turns a corner in its bout with the coronavirus, life for the monks is still far from returning to normal.

MINNEAPOLIS — A coalition of Twin Cities faith organizations and local businesses is calling on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to end what it calls an unconstitutional and draconian scheme to close businesses and places of worship, saying the partial economic shutdown has violated their constitutio…

As some 350,000 American churches and other houses of worship scramble to meet the spiritual and – increasingly – material needs of their members remotely, they are doing so on a tighter budget than usual.

I read a story the other day that made me think of my mother. Probably I had been thinking about her anyway because it is that time of year with Mother’s Day soon approaching.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Maj. Brian Minietta’s eyes are locked down the barrel of a camera lens. He sways gently back and forth in silence, then his gruff voice belts out, in singsong: “A little patience ... yeah, yeah!”

LOS ANGELES — A small California evangelical church that was forced to stop meeting for Sunday services because of coronavirus restrictions is suing California's governor, arguing the state’s public gathering ban violates First Amendment rights to religious freedom.

CENTRAL, La. — They are the pastor and the protester – both native sons of Louisiana, both products of religious households, both self-proclaimed fighters for their constitutional rights.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Sitting in the shade of Tripoli’s Mansouri Great Mosque, Issam Jadeed, an unemployed dessert maker, scowled at passersby asking if they could go inside.

One of the things that has struck me recently is how the coronavirus has dominated our life. Almost everything you read on the internet or see on television has to do with the coronavirus. It’s not surprising. It’s on everyone’s mind.

TRAVERSE CITY — The day Bear Lake Christian Church closed, the Rev. Scott Hoffer and others went through with bleach and water, disinfecting all surfaces with which people might have come in contact.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — As some states face lawsuits accusing them of restricting religious freedom in their efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a southwestern Illinois sheriff wants people to know he is not going to stop them from attending drive-in church services during the stay-…

LOS ANGELES — The congregants lined up 6 feet apart on Palm Sunday, waiting to take Communion at Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, California. Ten people were allowed inside at a time, with someone spraying chairs with disinfectant after each use.

A of couple years ago, I read an intriguing article in the New Yorker titled “Silicon Valley’s Quest to Live Forever.” The author described a high-profile symposium in a California mansion with people like Goldie Hawn and Google co-founder Sergey Hinn.

During what is perhaps the most important week in the Christian community finds the pastor of a local church at odds.

The Rev. Dan Eisnor of Second Reformed Church in Grand Haven calls himself “old-fashioned.” He still owns a flip phone and prefers face-to-face encounters with his parishioners, whether it is in church, at a nursing home, in jail or in college dorms.

Last Sunday, I watched six sermons on the internet. Yes, we are now in a time of “virtual worship.”