ONE leaflet showed a wooden doll hanging from a noose and suggested burning or stoning homosexuals. “God Abhors You” read another.

WHEN Father Basilious Nasser got an urgent call to say that one of his parishioners had been shot and needed help, the priest went immediately.

When Father Basilious Nasser got an urgent call to say that one of his parishioners had been shot and needed help, the priest went immediately.

Archbishop Robert Carlson announced a plan Thursday that seeks to fill about 1,800 vacant seats in the region's Catholic schools by channeling more revenue toward scholarships and pushing for state tax credits for tuition-paying parents.

A FRENCH appeals court has upheld fraud charges and a €600,000 fine against the Church of Scientology for cajoling followers into paying large sums for bogus personality tests and cures.

Mitt Romney accused President Obama this week of ordering “religious organizations to violate their conscience,’’ referring to a White House decision that requires all health plans - even those covering employees at Catholic hospitals, charities, and colleges - to provide free birth control. But a review of Romney’s tenure as Massachusetts governor shows that he once took a similar step.

When, in early January, Iran sentenced Arizona-born Iranian-American Amir Hekmati to death for allegedly spying for the CIA, the case cast a spotlight on a prosperous American community that had long lived under the radar. Not anymore.

President Obama drew on the Bible and his interpretation of the Christian faith Thursday to deliver a sharp, if tacit, critique of his chief Republican rival’s economic program, speaking at a forum that in the past has been largely free of electoral politics.

Ties between Turkey, NATO's biggest Muslim member, and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that says Israel should not exist, are blossoming.

A federal judge is considering whether Washington state can require pharmacies to stock and sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, even in the face of religious objections by druggists who believe they destroy human life.