News

News

ANALYSIS: Does religious freedom report need more ‘teeth’?

May 21, 2013 by Lauren Markoe

c. 2013 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Obama administration isn’t afraid to call out Republicans for playing politics on Capitol Hill, or Wall Street for runaway profits or insurance companies for health care woes.

But why, when it comes to protecting religious freedom abroad, is the State Department so hesitant to name names?

Godless funerals thrive in ‘post-Catholic’ Ireland

May 21, 2013 by Paresh Dave

c. 2013 Religion News Service

DUBLIN (RNS) Patricia Wojnar left a 32-year career in interior design to pursue a degree that wasn’t in demand: a master’s in bereavement studies.

Having seen four family members die early, she wanted to understand how to adapt.

(Presbyterian) Church of Scotland OK’s gay ministers

May 20, 2013 by Trevor Grundy

c. 2013 Religion News Service

CANTERBURY, England (RNS) The Church of Scotland’s General Assembly on Monday (May 20) passed a historic vote to allow actively gay men and lesbians to become ordained ministers.

Can grief be a mental illness? With new diagnostic changes, maybe

May 20, 2013 by Tim Townsend

c. 2013 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

(RNS) Each year 90,000 parents in the U.S. confront the profound suffering that follows the death of a child or adolescent.

Some of those rely on faith to help them through their grief. Others look to psychiatrists, who offer therapy or prescribe antidepressants to help ease their patients’ pain.

Do Americans really care how their clothes are made?

May 20, 2013 by Calum MacLeod

c. 2013 Religion News Service

DHAKA, Bangladesh (RNS) Just two more months, the daughter promised her mother by telephone, then she’d be home for good.