Nation

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi is facing criticism for saying people should avoid political activities on Sundays to keep the Sabbath holy — an idea that Hyde-Smith, herself, has not always followed.

Faith groups are celebrating Virginia’s decision to ban the death penalty, a move considered to be a victory for religious opposition to capital punishment. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed the ban — the first of any Southern state and the 23rd overall — into law on Wednesday.

Americans are becoming more confident they can attend in-person religious services but church attendance at Easter services will still be far lower than usual this year, a new Pew Research poll finds. 

New legal filings by individuals seeking to block new governing documents for Southwest Baptist University respond to the arguments made by the school in Bolivar, Missouri. The new responses rebuke SBU’s attempt to reframe the legal dispute as an internal theological controversy.

Fifty-seven Black Christian leaders have written a letter to members of the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee expressing support for sweeping LGBTQ rights but asking for a new bill that includes religious exemptions.

A U.S. appeals court ruled against a high school football coach who claimed his former school district violated his rights by dismissing him for leading students in prayer.

Liberty University has declined to renew the contract for conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the think tank he founded along with Jerry Falwell Jr., the school’s disgraced former president. Kirk has also revealed that he will be pivoting to a new faith-rooted initiative.

On Tuesday, authorities arrested a 21-year-old White man for allegedly shooting people at three massage parlors in the Atlanta, Georgia, area — killing eight people, including six Asian women. The man arrested for the murders was involved in a Southern Baptist church and wrote online about his faith.

More than two dozen clergy members from the capital region rolled up their sleeves inside the Washington National Cathedral and got vaccinated against the coronavirus Tuesday (March 16) in a camera-friendly event designed to encourage others to get their own COVID-19 shots.

The American Association of University Professors is challenging Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, for terminating its tenured philosophy professor in apparent violation of academic freedom.