WHEN Father Basilious Nasser got an urgent call to say that one of his parishioners had been shot and needed help, the priest went immediately.

ONE leaflet showed a wooden doll hanging from a noose and suggested burning or stoning homosexuals. “God Abhors You” read another.

Mitt Romney accused President Obama this week of ordering “religious organizations to violate their conscience,’’ referring to a White House decision that requires all health plans - even those covering employees at Catholic hospitals, charities, and colleges - to provide free birth control. But a review of Romney’s tenure as Massachusetts governor shows that he once took a similar step.

A FRENCH appeals court has upheld fraud charges and a €600,000 fine against the Church of Scientology for cajoling followers into paying large sums for bogus personality tests and cures.

The Virginia Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would require a woman seeking an abortion to first have an ultrasound, virtually assuring the measure will become state law.

Ties between Turkey, NATO's biggest Muslim member, and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that says Israel should not exist, are blossoming.

President Obama drew on the Bible and his interpretation of the Christian faith Thursday to deliver a sharp, if tacit, critique of his chief Republican rival’s economic program, speaking at a forum that in the past has been largely free of electoral politics.

At least 550 people filed sex-abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Wednesday's deadline in its bankruptcy proceedings - by far the largest number of claims among the eight Catholic diocesan bankruptcies in the United States since 2004, and on par with a 2009 Jesuit bankruptcy that covered victims in five states.

Pink ribbons have for decades been a symbol of resolve and compassion in the face of the deadly disease of breast cancer.

Sen. Gary Siplin believes this is the year for school prayer.

A federal judge is considering whether Washington state can require pharmacies to stock and sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, even in the face of religious objections by druggists who believe they destroy human life.

A retired US lieutenant general who made comments denigrating Islam has withdrawn from speaking at a West Point prayer breakfast after a veterans advocacy group protested his invitation, the military academy said yesterday.

The Indiana Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow creationism to be taught in the classroom -- an idea that, if it becomes law, could likely end up in a courtroom.

Same-sex marriage supporters, including Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, squared off Tuesday in a lengthy legislative hearing against ministers and others who urged that the state not abandon its tradition of limiting nuptials to one man and one woman.

The White House on Tuesday defended a new federal rule requiring religiously affiliated nonprofit groups to provide free birth control coverage to women, as opponents ratcheted up pressure to alter the provision.

Two checks were lost in the mail, and Courtney Havenwood was starting to panic.

With the Israeli-Palestinian peace process suspended, religious fundamentalists on both sides of the conflict are gaining wider influence.

They have the governor's backing and a rewritten bill, but advocates of legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland have made little progress in quieting the concerns of many faith leaders who adamantly oppose the legislation.

A hard-line Jewish settler who wants to pay Palestinians to leave the West Bank and Gaza is running against Israel's prime minister in Tuesday's ruling party primary election.

From her home in a labyrinth of stonewalled alleyways, Samia Ramsis holds a key chain bearing the face of the Virgin Mary as she sits in her yellow pajamas on the morning of Orthodox Christmas.