Churches & Religion

House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, speaks as members of Congress hold a candlelight vigil Tuesday for Israel on the steps of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Christian conservatives cheer new House Speaker Mike Johnson

November 11, 2023, 6:03am Churches & Religion

Evangelical Christian conservatives have long had allies in top Republican leadership in Congress. But never before have they had one so thoroughly embedded in their movement as new House Speaker Mike Johnson, a longtime culture warrior in the courthouse, in the classroom and in Congress. Read story

Young refugees from Israel play together in a Jewish refugee camp in Balatonoszod, Hungary, Tuesday Nov. 7, 2023. The camp, which houses around 250 people, including 100 children, provides shelter for Jewish refugees, some of whom escaped war both in Ukraine and Israel.

Jewish refugees from Israel find comfort and companionship in a countryside camp in Hungary

November 10, 2023, 1:42pm Churches & Religion

Zusha Pletnyov left his home in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk in 2014, when Russian-backed rebels seized large swaths of eastern Ukraine. After living some years in the capital, Kyiv, he fled again to Israel when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February of last year. Read story

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, bottom right, arrives for a debate at the parliament Bundestag about antisemitism and the protection of Jewish life in Germany, on the 85th anniversary of the November 1938 progroms in Germany and Austria, in central Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. According to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, the Nazis killed at least 91 people, vandalized 7,500 Jewish businesses and burned more than 1,400 synagogues during Nov. 9, 1938 pogroms known as Kristallnacht or ‘Night of broken Glass’.

Germans commemorate ‘Night of Broken Glass’ terror as antisemitism is on the rise again

November 10, 2023, 7:47am Churches & Religion

Across Germany, in schools, city halls, synagogues, churches and parliament, people came together Thursday to commemorate the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht — or the “Night of Broken Glass” — in 1938 in which the Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria. Read story

Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023.

Vatican steps closer to allowing transgender Catholics to be baptized

November 9, 2023, 7:45am Churches & Religion

In the United States, the national conference of Catholic bishops rejects the concept of gender transition, leaving many transgender Catholics feeling excluded. On Wednesday, the Vatican made public a sharply contrasting statement, saying it’s permissible, under certain circumstances, for trans Catholics to be baptized and serve as godparents. Read story

Vatican says it’s permissible for transgender Catholics to be baptized

November 8, 2023, 4:30pm Churches & Religion

FBI investigating suspicious packages sent to Seattle synagogues

Suspicious packages were sent to several synagogues in the Seattle area, including Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation in the Seward park neighborhood.

Cormac Li was suspicious of the white envelope delivered to his Seward Park synagogue Friday afternoon, given that the name of the house of worship was misspelled and the two return addresses — one in Jerusalem, the other in Seattle — were clearly bogus. Read story

Governors show solidarity with Israel, earning plaudits and criticism

FILE - New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at the state Capitol, Feb. 1, 2023, in Albany, N.Y. On Tuesday, Oct. 31, Hochul announced a probe of antisemitism policies at the City University of New York, the nation's largest urban public university system, as protests about the war between Israel and Hamas erupt at college campuses across the country.

Eleven days after Hamas terrorists poured into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing at least 1,400 people and kidnapping more than 230, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul arrived in Israel with a photo of a Long Island native in hand to give to the president of the besieged country. Read story