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Raid of church leader's Florida mansion reveals 57 forced laborers, feds say

Religion / Religious News /

An FBI raid revealed 57 victims of forced labor living in cramped quarters at a lavish Florida mansion connected to the leaders of a church, federal officials say.

The raid, which targeted a Tampa mansion where one of the leaders lived, was carried out in August, but recently filed court records brought new details to light, including the scale...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYPD on high alert on Yom Kippur in wake of England synagogue bombing

Religion / Religious News /

NEW YORK — The deadly synagogue attack in England resonated across the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, with the NYPD monitoring the investigation and keeping a watchful eye on houses of worship as Jews throughout New York celebrate Yom Kippur.

“We are tracking the incident in Manchester, England,” the NYPD posted on X. “At this time, there ...Read more

David Guralnick/The Detroit News/TNS

Michigan churches, houses of worship review security after Grand Blanc shooting

Religion / Religious News /

DETROIT — Detroit-area faith leaders are encouraging churches, mosques, synagogues and other houses of worship to review their security plans as area faithful feel shaken after two attacks targeting Michigan churches in a little more than three months.

Even before Sunday's tragedy that left five people dead, including the suspected shooter, ...Read more

Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Pope Leo XIV calls for 'ecological conversion' to face climate change

Religion / Religious News /

In his first major climate speech, Pope Leo XIV renewed the Vatican’s vow to remain at the forefront of the movement to halt global warming.

“We must shift from collecting data to caring, and from environmental discourses to an ecological conversion that transforms both personal and communal lifestyles,” Pope Leo XIV said on Tuesday, ...Read more

Karen Ducey/The Seattle Times/TNS

Organizers of chaotic spring anti-LGBTQ+ Christian rally sue Seattle

Religion / Religious News /

SEATTLE — The organizers of a conservative Christian rally earlier this year in Seattle are suing the city — and Mayor Bruce Harrell individually — over what they say was a violation of their First Amendment right to freedom of speech, religion and assembly.

The Mayday USA rally last May, part of a five-city tour to advocate for the “...Read more

Elsa/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: Religious revolution is happening online (and that's not a bad thing)

Religion / Religious News /

The most important religious revolution of our time isn’t happening in mosques or churches. It’s happening on screens.

For millions of young Muslims around the world, the spiritual life that once flowed through the mosque is now being livestreamed from a bedroom, uploaded to YouTube and shared on TikTok. Twitch preachers, Instagram sheikhs,...Read more

Surya Vaidy/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Decades after the hit horror film, demand for exorcists on the rise

Religion / Religious News /

BALTIMORE — She levitates above her chair. An old man hurls a priest across the room. A young woman speaks full paragraphs in Bulgarian, a language she’s never studied. A man’s skin blisters at the sight of a crucifix.

In interviews with The Baltimore Sun, exorcists claimed these are not movie scenes but moments they’ve witnessed ...Read more

Marinv/Dreamstime/TNS

Less than half of Americans say they'd go to heaven if rapture occurs, poll finds

Religion / Religious News /

If the rapture were to occur, many Americans say they’d be left behind, according to new polling.

In the latest YouGov survey, less than half of respondents expressed confidence they would ascend to heaven in such an end-of-days scenario.

However, majorities of several demographics — including Republicans, Southerners and adults over 65 �...Read more

Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post/TNS

Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila to submit request for retirement next week as he turns 75

Religion / Religious News /

DENVER — Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila, who has presided over the city’s Catholic archdiocese for the past 13 years, will submit his canonically mandated request to retire to Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday, his 75th birthday.

It is a requirement of the church that Catholic bishops and archbishops submit their resignation to the pope when they ...Read more

Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/TNS

Yeshiva reformers take NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, state lawmakers to court over delayed secular studies

Religion / Religious News /

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

MARIA GRAZIA PICCIARELLA/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Pope Leo XIV expresses 'concern' over US in first interview

Religion / Religious News /

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

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Commentary: School coaches shouldn't be pushing religion

Religion / Religious News /

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

Maria Grazia Picciarella/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Editorial: What does Pope Leo think about Trump's immigration action in Chicago?

Religion / Religious News /

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

At this clinic, Muslim and Christian groups partner to offer free dental care

Religion / Religious News /

MIAMI — For the first time since it opened in 2008, patients at an Opa-Locka, Florida, health care clinic will be able to receive consistent dental care — from cleanings to cancer screenings and root canals — and it’s not going to cost them a penny.

UHI CommunityCare Clinic, a nonprofit health care clinic, is now offering free dental ...Read more

Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

These churches are sharing land with homeless people. They say it's the Christian thing to do

Religion / Religious News /

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

Roger Nedel/LifeWise Academy/TNS

More states guarantee students the right to school-day religious instruction off campus

Religion / Religious News /

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

Arguments over releasing concealed names in the Baltimore Archdiocese sex abuse report to be heard Friday

Religion / Religious News /

BALTIMORE — Maryland’s highest court is scheduled to consider arguments Friday on whether to release the names of more than a dozen people — mostly current and former clergy members — whose identities were concealed in the public version of a disturbing report released in 2023, chronicling sexual abuse within the Baltimore Archdiocese ...Read more

Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Sex abuse survivors move to dismiss Baltimore Archdiocese bankruptcy case

Religion / Religious News /

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

Feds take down cult-like Kingdom of God Global Church over forced labor

Religion / Religious News /

Two leaders of the Kingdom of God Global Church, a nationwide ministry once called a “slave labor cult” by a former member, were arrested Wednesday by the FBI.

David Taylor, the 53-year-old leader known as the church’s “apostle,” and Michelle Brannon, its 56-year-old executive director, were both detained, the Justice Department ...Read more

Wesley Alden/The Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Catholic priest who worked in Orlando faces child abuse accusations, lawsuit

Religion / Religious News /

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Catholic priest who worked in Orlando churches for more than a decade faces sexual abuse accusations from sheriff’s investigators and a lawsuit that accuses him of grooming and then abusing a child for years.

Father George Zina, who now works as a pastor at a church in Roanoke, VA, denies any wrongdoing, according to the ...Read more