As Richard Owen and I report, Pope Benedict XVI has issued an endearingly humble pastoral letter to Catholic bishops around the world explaining more of the rationale for lifting the excommunications of Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson and three other Lefebvrist bishops. Cathcon has ...

The reaction continues to roll in as the mainstream press surfs through the results of the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), the one that points to the rising wave of the post-denominational age in American religion. For background on the survey itself, click here to head over to ...

“Freedom of Worship” from The Four Freedoms by Norman Rockwell Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petit...

With President Barack Obama’s announcement that he will change President Bush’s policy on taxpayer funding of stem cell research that destroys embryos, expect quite a bit of media coverage. This is an area where the media have struggled to provide fair, much less accurate, reportage of t...

From the Diocese of Ridgeport, CT, comes this report that the state of Connecticut is seeking to regulate the internal operations and structure of the Catholic Church: Catholics across the State of Connecticut mobilize to fight the irrational, unlawful, and bigoted Proposed Bill #1098/2009 New: Info...

Let me tell you what today has been like, and we’re only a few hours into it. Those of you who don’t understand what a low-down, bitchy sinner I am may be surprised. Those of you who do know (or suspect) that I am a bitchy sinner will be gratified. I started the morning crabbing to my hu...

Tur8infan In a previous series (link to series index), we documented Steve Ray (and others) misquoting Athanasius (i.e. citing a spurious, or (at best) dubious, work as though it were authentic). Mr. Ray's inaccurate citations, though, are not limited to Athanasius. Mr. Ray also misquotes Gregory Th...

“Far Beyond the House and Chicken Yard “ A Review of Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor . by Brad Gooch. By Chris Smith.   Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor . Brad Gooch. Hardcover: Little, Brown and Co., 2009. Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $24 ] [ Amazon ...

One Law for All, the group that campaigns against the adoption of Islamic law or sharia in the UK, is planning a mass demonstration in the centre of London tomorrow, Saturday. 'We know we have a huge fight ahead and can only win if we do this together. We must mobilise a mass anti-racist movemen...

A GetReligion reader with an intense interest in history, especially in northern Africa and other regions bordering the Middle East, sent me the URL of to this haunting multi-media feature by CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson. Trust me, the text is enough. It is an interview with ...