ArcaMax

NEW YORK — Yeshiva reformers are taking Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York legislative leaders to court over a contentious deal that waters down state oversight of ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools, the reformers’ attorney announced Thursday.

The amendment, wedged into the state budget during a final stretch of negotiations, put the kibosh on a New...Read more

The first American pope, Pope Leo XIV, expressed “concern” for his homeland during his first interview in the job he was appointed to in May.

In an extensive interview published by religious site Crux on Thursday, the pontiff avoided getting involved in partisan U.S. politics while making clear he will talk about issues involving “human ...Read more

Q: What if you have no family and few friends? And you're ill and in pain and only death will end it? And you'd rather leave what money you have to various charities then use it up paying for care that may prolong life but won't cure or even reduce pain, but keep one around increasingly unable to do self-care, etc.? – (From S)

A: ...Read more

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: How is it that people are coming to accept that evil people can attack and kill people going to church? The culture has gone mad. 99It’s an outrage. Why doesn’t God just remove all the evil people from Earth? He certainly has the power, right? – M.C.

A: Evil is everywhere, and we can find ...Read more

As a former Division I football player and Team USA bobsledder who has gone on to become a state lawmaker in Oklahoma, I’ve seen it myself — coaches imposing their religious beliefs on players. This can involve pressuring players to engage in prayer or religious discussion, under threat of being sidelined.

Faith should be a personal choice....Read more

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: I don’t like working in the entertainment industry because so much of it is godless, but I make good money, and I have to support my family. I’ve been warned that I will likely succumb to the godless influences instead of me influencing them for God. I’m not sure that is possible. Does God ...Read more

When Cardinal Robert Prevost of south suburban Dolton became Pope Leo XIV in May, excited Chicagoans could hardly believe the first American pope in church history was homegrown — and a White Sox fan at that.

Conservative Catholics across the country could hardly believe it, either. The powerful Catholic right had campaigned for a ...Read more

On 9/11 I was the president of the New York Board of Rabbis, and because of my position I was asked to deliver one of the speeches at the 9/11 memorial service at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 24, 2001. I offer it up this year once again as a memorial to the dead and remembered ones but ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A Nazarene ministry in St. Paul‘s working-class East Side. An aging Lutheran congregation in Roseville. A nondenominational megachurch in Maple Grove.

Three vastly different churches are on the leading edge of a Minnesota experiment in treating chronic homelessness by building tiny home villages — known as Sacred Settlements...Read more

In the past month or so, federal courts have dealt a string of blows to conservatives’ push for the biblical Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools.

Yet as states lose over required religious displays, many are working on another route to faith-based education by allowing kids to attend off-campus religious instruction. This year, ...Read more

Q: I'm sincere in wishing we could sit down and talk about Heaven – it's SO much more than "the reward for righteous people.” Heaven is about RELATIONSHIP with God, just as this life is intended to be all about relationship with Him, and that connection positively impacting all our relationships, choices and behavior here. Besides that, ...Read more

Representatives of Catholic church sex abuse survivors filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case, which is blocking the survivors’ ability to sue the church for damages.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2023, mere days before state legislation erasing the statute of limitations for sex abuse ...Read more

Q: We've met at Monsignor Hartman’s events and you're an inspirational man. Your commitment and love for faith is contagious. I'm in a health crisis. I have lymphoma that's spread to my chest. The effects of chemotherapy, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, diarrhea and sickness have been overbearing. I have a handgun in a lockbox and have ...Read more

Q: Regarding the woman who is having a difficult time forgiving the group of people who hurt her daughter, I recently ran across this statement: “Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.” In other words, all of that woman's anger and unforgiveness are doing nothing to hurt the people who hurt her daughter, but they are hurting her. And ...Read more

Q: Thank you for your helpful columns, Rabbi. I don't recall where I heard this, but it changed my perspective on forgiveness. (And there have been incidents in my life where I struggled with what I thought forgiveness entailed.) The person said, "Forgiveness is giving up your right to get even with the person, when you have the power to do ...Read more

Q: I have been reading your comments on forgiveness. I sadly admit I am quick to anger and slow to forgive. A few years ago, a very beloved and trusted group that was everything to me betrayed my daughter by making false accusations, intimidating her and taking away a part of her livelihood. I still cannot let go of the hurt and anger this ...Read more

Q: I do not believe in reincarnation. It is not comforting to think I would be back here after I die in a world where there is so much turmoil. Instead, I love the idea of my soul going back to God at the end of my life and then, when time here is over, my body will be reunited with my soul and I will live with God/Jesus for eternity in ...Read more