Religion

Longtime California seminary president Jeff Iorg addresses members of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee during a meeting on Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Dallas, Texas, where he was named the next president and CEO of the committee. (Adam Covington/Baptist Press via AP)

Southern Baptists pick a California seminary president to lead its troubled administrative body

A top administrative body of the Southern Baptist Convention has selected its first permanent leader in nearly two-and-a-half years.

FILE - This Feb. 15, 2007 file photo shows then Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe, in Bruges, Belgium. Pope Francis has defrocked a notorious Belgian bishop who admitted 14 years ago that he sexually abused his nephew but faced no Vatican punishment. (AP Photo/Peter Maenhoudt, file)

Belgian bishop defrocked 14 years after admitting to abusing nephew

FILE - Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at an annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, in Las Vegas. Trump on Monday, March 18, 2024, charged that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel” and hate “their religion,” igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.(AP Photo/John Locher, File)

US Jews upset with Trump’s latest rhetoric say he doesn’t get to tell them how to be Jewish

FILE - Members of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo protest in San Martin Square in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov. 21, 1977. Week after week, since April 1977, the mothers of disappeared children have gathered at the square that provided the group with its name, despite being discredited during the dictatorship as “crazy” and “terrorists.” (AP Photo, File)

Their children disappeared in Argentina’s dictatorship. These mothers have looked for them since

BYU center Aly Khalifa celebrates after making a basket during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against UCF Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

BYU’s Aly Khalifa heads into March Madness without food or water while observing Ramadan

A Pakistani court sentences a woman to life in prison for burning pages from Islam’s holy book

A Pakistani court in the eastern city of Lahore has sentenced a Muslim woman to life in prison after finding her guilty of burning pages of Islam’s holy book.

Lawsuit in New Mexico alleges abuse by a Catholic priest decades ago

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A man who says he was sexually abused as a boy by a priest in New Mexico in the 1960s sued the church and diocese this week, the latest case to surface in the state as the Roman Catholic Church wrestles with the global clergy sex abuse scandal.

This image released by Neon shows Sydney Sweeney in a scene from the film "Immaculate." (Neon via AP)

Movie Review: Things get scary for Sydney Sweeney in a creepy Italian convent in ‘Immaculate’

Sydney Sweeney plays a nun abroad in the new horror movie “Immaculate.” Her character is recruited to join an Italian convent that also provides a home for dying nuns, but the picturesque setting soon curdles into nightmare territory in this film written by Andrew Lobel and directed by Michael Mohan

Ramy Youssef poses for a portrait, Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in Culver City, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Ramy Youssef constantly asks if jokes are harmful or helpful. He keeps telling them anyway

Fresh off his awards season high after going to the Oscars with his fellow “Poor Things” stars, Ramy Youssef is heading back into more familiar territory.

FILE - Jewish ultra-Orthodox men and children, some wearing costumes, celebrate the festival of Purim at a synagogue in Bnei Brak, Israel, March 17, 2022. Purim celebrates the biblical story of how a plot to exterminate Jews in Persia was thwarted, and thus is embraced as an affirmation of Jewish survival throughout history. For many Jews, it will have extra significance in 2024 during a war in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel in which Hamas killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)

During the Israel-Hamas war, Jews will soon celebrate Purim — one of their most joyous holidays

Purim is widely depicted as the most joyful of Jewish holidays — highlighted by celebrations that include costumes, skits and noisemakers.

This image provided by the US Attorney for the District of Montana from a court document shows golden eagle feet that law enforcement officers recovered from the vehicle of a Washington state man charged with federal wildlife trafficking violations. The defendant is scheduled to plead guilty on March 20, 2024 in Missoula, Mont. in what prosecutors say was an illegal scheme to shoot eagles and sell their parts on the black market. (Courtesy of the US Attorney for the District of Montana via AP)

Man pleads guilty in eagle ‘killing spree’ on reservation to sell feathers on black market

A Washington state man accused of helping kill thousands of birds has pleaded guilty to shooting eagles on an American Indian reservation in Montana and selling their feathers and body parts on the black market.

FILE - Hildale, Utah, is pictured sitting at the base of Red Rock Cliff mountains, with its sister city, Colorado City, Ariz., in the foreground on Dec. 16, 2014. On Tuesday, March 19, 2024, a businessman pleaded guilty to conspiring with the leader of an offshoot polygamous sect in the Colorado City-Hildale area to transport underage girls across state lines for sexual activity. The guilty plea by 53-year-old Moroni Johnson marked the first man to be convicted in what authorities say was a scheme to orchestrate sexual acts involving children. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Polygamous sect member pleads guilty in scheme to orchestrate sexual acts involving children

A businessman has pleaded guilty to conspiring with the leader of an offshoot polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border to transport underage girls across state lines.

Journalists work at a private television broadcaster in Algiers, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Algerian officials are chiding television stations over the content choices they've made during Ramadan. Their criticisms come amid broader struggles facing journalists and broadcasters, which have historically relied heavily on advertising from the state and Sonatrach, its largest oil and gas company. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Algeria scolds television stations for Ramadan advertising blitz and immoral programming

Algerian officials are chiding television stations over the content choices they’ve made since the start of Ramadan.

Khenpo Paljor, a Tibetan lama from Des Moines, Iowa, leads a prayer at the Birthplace of Antioch marker, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Antioch, Calif. Participants of the event titled “May We Gather” placed traditional Tibetan scarves on the marker as they prayed for peace and harmony. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)

Buddhists use karmic healing against one US city’s anti-Asian legacy and nationwide prejudice today

A group of Buddhist faith leaders and community members gathered in the city of Antioch, California, for the “first national Buddhist memorial service and pilgrimage in response to anti-Asian hate.”

Buddhist faith leaders and community members drape Tibetan prayer scarves on the Birthplace of Antioch marker during the "May We Gather" pilgrimage, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Antioch, Calif. The event aimed to use karmic cleansing through chants, prayer and testimony to heal racial trauma caused by anti-Chinese discrimination in Antioch in the 1870s. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)

A California city wrestles with its history of discrimination against early Chinese immigrants

Over the last two years, the quiet city of Antioch, California, has been wrestling with its long and complicated history of discrimination against early Chinese immigrants during the gold rush.

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec.16, 2023, file photo, reporters watch a screen in the Vatican press room showing Vatican tribunal president Giuseppe Pignatone reading the verdict of a trial against Cardinal Angelo Becciu and nine other defendants. Several prominent lawyers have published stinging academic critiques and legal opinions about the Vatican's recently concluded "trial of the century," highlighting violations of basic defense rights and rule of law norms that they warn could have consequences for the Holy See going forward. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)

The first outside legal analyses of Vatican’s ‘trial of the century’ are in, and they’re critical

Several prominent lawyers have published stinging academic critiques and legal opinions about the Vatican’s recently concluded “trial of the century.”

This combination photo shows, from top left, clockwise, the scaffolding around the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral spire being removed from Jan. 24, 2024 to March 6, 2024. Scaffolding has enshrouded Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris since a 2019 fire destroyed its spire and roof and threatened to collapse the whole medieval structure. After an unprecedented international reconstruction effort, the scaffolding is at last starting to peel away. (AP Photos captured from La Tour d'Argent restaurant/Alexander Turnbull)

Notre Dame Cathedral’s restoration has been a 5-year journey of dedication and recovery

The restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral following a tragic blaze in April 2019 is a story of dedication and recovery.

A Jewish prayer book is displayed by Jordan Meshel after it survived inside a minivan that was destroyed by an arson fire at the Las Olas Jewish Center on Saturday, March 16, 2024, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.. (Rabbi Chaim Slavaticki via AP)

Arsonist sets fire to Florida Jewish center, but police do not believe it was a hate crime

A Florida Jewish center suffered severe damage in a weekend arson fire that police believe was set by a mentally ill homeless man.

Members of the Al-Rabaya family break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan outside their destroyed home by the Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Famine is said to be imminent in northern Gaza as Israel raids the main hospital again

A new report says famine is imminent in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger.

An Israeli soldier on top a tank on the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Sunday, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Netanyahu snaps back against growing US criticism after being accused of losing his way on Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sharply protesting against growing criticism from top ally the United States over his leadership amid the war with Hamas.

Orthodox clergy, official, honour guards and people walk along with the coffin of the Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte during his funeral with honours procession, in Sofia, Saturday, March 16, 2024. Bulgarians have lined the streets of Sofia to bid farewell to the late Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte. The spiritual leader of Bulgaria’s Orthodox Christians died on Wednesday at the age of 78 after a long illness. Neophyte, who became patriarch in 2013, was the first elected head of the Bulgarian church after the fall of communism in 1989. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

Bulgarians line the streets of the capital to bid farewell to Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte

Bulgarians have lined the streets of Sofia to bid farewell to the late Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte. The spiritual leader of Bulgaria’s Orthodox Christians died on Wednesday at the age of 78 after a long illness.

Adam Alcodray stands outside Dearborn High School on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 in Dearborn Mich. Alcodray, 14, is a 9th grader at the school which makes certain allowances for students observing Ramadan. Alcodray says Ramadan carries more significance this year given the plight of people in Gaza. “When you look at what the children are eating in Gaza, you appreciate what your mom makes,” he said. “When you’re having a bad day, realize what they are going through.”

Fasting at school? More Muslim students in the US are getting support during Ramadan

While Muslim students remain a rarity in many U.S. school districts, they are a major presence in some communities.

FILE - Stacey Peterson and Kevin McGuire take a selfie in front of the green Chicago River to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Saturday, March 17, 2018. The Chicago River has been dyed a bright shade of green, kicking off the city's St. Patrick's Day festivities. The day honoring the patron saint of Ireland is a global celebration of Irish heritage. And nowhere is that more so than in the United States, where parades take place in cities around the country and all kinds of foods and drinks are given an emerald hue. (James Foster/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)

From 4-leaf clovers to some unexpected history, all you need to know about St. Patrick’s Day

If it’s March, and it’s green, it must be St. Patrick’s Day. The day honoring the patron saint of Ireland is a global celebration of Irish heritage.

FILE - This photo released Aug. 9, 2022, by the Albuquerque Police Department shows Muhammad Syed. Syed, an Afghan refugee accused in the slayings of three Muslim men in Albuquerque, N.M., will be in court Tuesday, March 12, 2024, as attorneys are expected to deliver opening statements in the first of three trials. (Albuquerque Police Department via AP, File)

Jurors weigh fate of Afghan refugee charged with murder in a case that shocked Muslim community

Prosecutors have wrapped up their case against an Afghan refugee in the first of three trials stemming from allegations that he gunned down three Muslim men over the course of several days in 2022.

In this image provided by MUBI is fashion designer John Galliano in the documentary film, “High & Low --John Galliano," directed by Kevin Macdonald. In the photograph by David Harriman John Galliano returns to the Dior archive for the first time since 2011. (David Harriman/MUBI via AP)

‘High & Low — John Galliano’ explores the rise and fall of a controversial designer

The new documentary “High & Low — John Galliano” covers all the complexities of the famous British designer, one of the most celebrated and controversial figures in the fashion industry.

Bulgarian Orthodox Priests pay their last respects to Bulgarian patriarch Neophyte at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, Friday, March 15, 2024. National mourning was declared by the Bulgarian government on March 15 and 16 to honour Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria. Neophyte who was the first elected head of the Orthodox Church in the post-communist Balkan country, died at a hospital in Sofia on March 13. He was 78. .(AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

Bulgarians pay their last respects to the late Orthodox patriarch

Thousands of Orthodox Christians from across Bulgaria have flocked to Sofia’s Alexander Nevski Cathedral to pay their respects to their late spiritual leader, Patriarch Neophyte, who passed away on Wednesday.

A group of Amish arrive at the Crawford County Judicial Center in Meadville, Pa., for the preliminary hearing for Shawn Christopher Cranston on Friday Mar. 15, 2024. Cranston is being held in connection with the murder of Rebekah A. Byler and her unborn child in her home in Spartansburg, Pa., on Feb. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Husband of slain pregnant Amish woman testifies his young children told him of the killing

The criminal homicide case against a truck driver accused of killing a pregnant Amish woman is headed to county court for trial.

Ishmael Chokurongerwa, 56, a "self styled" prophet is seen at his shrine on a farm about 34 kilometers (21 miles) north of the capital, Harare, Wednesday, March, 13, 2024. Chokurongerwa led a sect with more than 100 members. Zimbabwean police on Wednesday said they arrested the man claiming to be a prophet of an apostolic sect at a shrine where believers stay in a compound and authorities found 16 unregistered graves, including those of infants, and more than 250 children used as cheap labor. (AP Photo)

‘Prophet’ charged in Zimbabwe court after police say his reclusive sect used 251 children as workers

A man claiming to be a prophet has been charged in a Zimbabwean court after police raided the compound where he led a religious sect and found more than 250 children being kept away from school and used as workers.

FILE - The Jasna Gora Monastery, Poland's most revered Catholic shrine, during a sunset in Czestochowa, Poland, on Sept. 23, 2023. The leaders of Poland’s influential Catholic Church on Thursday, March 14, 2024 chose moderate Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda to be their new principal, at a time when the church is still struggling to reckon with the abuse of minors by some Polish clergy, while the number of Poles going to church has fallen sharply. (AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk, File)

Polish Catholics get a new leader as the church struggles to reckon with sexual abuse

The leaders of Poland’s influential Catholic Church have chosen moderate Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda to be their new principal, at a time when the church is struggling to reckon with the abuse of minors by some Polish clergy.

The entrance to the Wisconsin Supreme Court chambers in the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. The court on Thursday, March 14, 2024 ruled that religious exemptions to the state's unemployment tax don't apply to a Superior-based Catholic charities ministry. (AP Photo/Todd Richmond)

A Wisconsin ruling on Catholic Charities raises the bar for religious tax exemptions

A ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court is raising the bar for religions to show that their charity arms deserve tax exemptions.

FILE - Bishops kneel on the forecourt of the Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire basilica in the sanctuary of Lourdes, southwestern France, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. More than 500 victims of child sexual abuse by priests or other church representatives have received financial compensation from France's Catholic Church under a sweeping reparations program, the independent body in charge of the process said Thursday March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bob Edme, File)

Nearly 500 victims of church sex abuse in France have received financial compensation

An independent French body in charge of a reparation program for victims of child sexual abuse by priests or church representatives says that nearly 500 people have so far received financial compensations from France’s Catholic Church.

Members of the Saint Mark the Apostle and Saint Samuel the Confessor Monastery sit at the magistrate court in Cullinan, a town east of Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, March 14, 2024. Two suspects appeared at the court for the murder of three Egyptian monks belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church at a monastery in South Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

2 men accused of murdering 3 Egyptian Coptic monks appear in a South African court

Two men accused of fatally stabbing three Egyptian monks belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church in South Africa have appeared in court.

Italian journalist and writer Fabio Marchese Ragona holds a copy of "Life: My Story Through History" as he poses for a picture prior to the start of an interview with the Associated Press, in Rome, Thursday, March 13, 2024. Pope Francis says he has no plans to resign and isn't suffering from any health problems that would require doing so, in an autobiography, "Life: My Story Through History," which is being published Tuesday and written with Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope acknowledges criticism and health issues but says in his new memoir he has no plans to retire

Pope Francis says he has no plans to resign and isn’t suffering from any health problems that would require doing so.

Jessie Wooden, owner of the Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery, sits on a crypt, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in the Brownsville neighborhood of Miami. Wooden bought the cemetery after finding out that his mother, who died when he was an infant, was buried there. “All my life I didn’t know her. All I knew that mom was gone,” he says. “For me to be able to come where she’s resting at and be able to just to say a little prayer and talk to her, oh, that means so much to me.” (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

As threats to Black cemeteries persist, a movement to preserve their sacred heritage gains strength

As the national debate over Black history continues, one aspect of the legacy of race in America is undergoing something of a rebirth: Black cemeteries that were established in the era of segregation.

Britain's Prime Minster Rishi Sunak departs 10 Downing Street to go to the House of Commons for his weekly Prime Minister's Questions in London, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

The British government wants to define extremism. Critics say it risks creating more division

The British government has published a new official definition of “extremism.” Groups that get the label will be barred from receiving government funding.