WASHINGTON (RNS) — The House has passed a bill that would create a special State Department envoy for religious minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia, where Christians have come under attack in recent years, particularly in Muslim…

(RNS) — Almost every major college and university offers a degree in religious studies. But secularism? Nary a one — until now. Starting this fall, Pitzer College, a small liberal arts school in Southern California, will offer a bachelor’s degree…

BERLIN (RNS) — For the first time since membership records have been kept, more Germans departed the Roman Catholic Church than were baptized into it in 2010, according to new data from Germany’s Catholic Conference of Bishops. The new statistics,…

(RNS) — Leaders of the Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in Alabama filed a federal lawsuit on Aug. 1 to stop enforcement of the state’s new immigration law, which they say could strike at the core of their ability…

(RNS) — A group of military atheists have won the backing of U.S. Army officials to hold a “Rock Beyond Belief” concert for nonbelievers at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg next year. The victory came after several church-state separation watchdog groups…

LIVINGSTON, N.J. (RNS) — It started as a simple gesture. But it could have implications far beyond the quiet New Jersey street where Patrick Racaniello affixed a wooden cross on a tree in his front yard. Livingston Township officials say…

By Kim Plummer Krull After seeing firsthand the suffering as starving Somalis pour into the Dadaab refugee camps, the Rev. Dr. Walter Obare, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK), is requesting additional financial support to meet urgent…

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League in mid-July mailed sample packets of 2011 “LWML Sunday” materials to all LCMS congregations and LWML societies. Although the first Sunday in October — Oct. 2 this year — is the traditional date for congregations…

Darin Storkson and the Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill began serving July 1 in new positions with the Synod’s Office of International Mission. Storkson, 45, who has served since 2005 with LCMS World Relief and Human Care — most recently as…

The registration fee for the 2013 National LCMS Youth Gathering — July 1-5 in San Antonio — will be $295 per registrant. A 12-member Gathering executive team set the fee at a July 17-20 meeting in San Antonio. That team…

For the 16th consecutive year, Concordia Publishing House reached out to its South St. Louis neighbors — many of whom have limited incomes — by giving away food, drinks, gifts and warm (with the temperature over 100 degrees!) smiles. Operation…

Addressing the Papua New Guinea Mission Society at its biennial meeting, Governor Peter Ipatas of the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea noted the contributions of LCMS missionaries to his homeland — particularly in education and health care — and…

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., have scheduled free visitation events for prospective students: “Contemplate” is the St. Louis seminary’s structured visitation designed for men interested in the pastoral ministry and women considering deaconess service.…

By Kim Plummer Krull Tim Staffeld says he probably could make more money with a “regular” summer job. And the Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Ill., student has no doubt he would sweat less if he weren’t helping replace more…

The Centre Luthérien d’Etudes Théologiques (CLET), or Lutheran Center for Theological Studies, in Dapaong, Togo, West Africa — a seminary started in 1997 by the Lutheran Church of Togo and LCMS World Mission — celebrated the graduation of four students,…

Two video Bible studies produced by Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) for its “Men’s NetWork” were honored with a total of four bronze (second-place) Telly Awards June 24. The Bible studies — “We the People: Citizens of Two Kingdoms” and “The…