Separation of Church and State

Supreme Court to revisit church-state separation

2013-05-20 20:42:00

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has agreed to revisit the issue of church-state separation and decide whether a town council can begin most of its monthly meetings with a prayer from a Christian pastor. Thirty years ago, the court upheld a state...

Huge Oklahoma tornado, on ground 40 minutes, smashes schools, homes

2013-05-20 15:29:00

A mile-wide tornado slammed into Oklahoma on Monday afternoon, leveling neighborhoods, starting fires and causing, as one storm chaser put it, "total destruction." [Update, 5:29 p.m. May 20: Oklahoma authorities said at least 37 people were killed in...

Supreme Court to hear prayer case

2013-05-20 07:20:00

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will revisit the issue of church-state separation and decide whether a town council can begin its monthly meetings with a prayer from a Christian pastor. Thirty years ago, the court upheld a state legislature’s...

Westboro Baptist Church defector struggles with her past

2013-05-20 07:00:00

TOPEKA, Kan. — The house was empty,�just as Libby Phelps had planned. Slipping inside that�afternoon four years ago,�she felt as if her heart would burst�through her chest. She peeked through the curtains, terrified that her aunt and uncle�...

Geza Vermes dies at 88; scholar wrote about Dead Sea Scrolls

2013-05-15 17:18:00

Geza Vermes was a graduate student in Belgium in the late 1940s when he was captivated by news sweeping the globe about a remarkable discovery in the desert east of Jerusalem. He quickly switched gears, penning his doctoral thesis on the Dead Sea Scrolls,...

Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

2013-05-11 22:04:00

WASHINGTON — Can a public high school hold its graduation ceremony in a local church? The Supreme Court has been pondering that question in its private conference for six weeks, discussing whether to take up a Wisconsin case that could reset the...

Supreme Court rules in favor of Monsanto in seed-patenting case

2013-05-13 09:13:00

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court gave a victory to Monsanto and other makers of patented seeds Monday, ruling they can prohibit farmers from growing a second crop from their genetically engineered seeds. In a unanimous decision, the court said the...

Texas court backs cheerleaders' display of religious banners

2013-05-08 17:27:00

Cheerleaders in a small Texas town can continue to display their Bible verse banners at football games, after a district judge ruled Wednesday that their actions did not violate the Constitution. The cheerleaders in the football-dominated town of...

Tribeca 2013: In 'Trials of Muhammad Ali,' a counterpoint to '42'

2013-04-29 10:18:00

NEW YORK--When a championship boxer like Muhammad Ali felt disrespected by another fighter, he might have been expected to do what most boxers would: knock his opponent's lights out. But the icon took a different route when faced with a rival he...

Uganda priest ostracized for publicizing sexual abuse

2013-05-04 18:10:00

KAMPALA, Uganda — He is a celebrity across eastern and central Africa, a gospel music star known to many as the "Dancing Priest." But for years he also was a keeper of painful secrets — his own and many others'. In going public, Anthony...

Football: Catholic Athletic Assn. approves new leagues for 2014

2013-05-07 11:12:42

'Paradise' runneth over for Ulrich Seidl

2013-05-05 06:00:00

Austrian director Ulrich Seidl makes a habit of blurring boundaries: his documentaries include staged scenes, and his dramas feature nonprofessional actors who are sometimes playing versions of themselves. But there is little middle ground when it comes...

Attorney Thomas Geoghegan leads a press conference at the law firm of Despres, Schwartz and Geoghegan in downtown Chicago after his firm filed lawsuits to delay and to stop Chicago Public Schools from closing 53 elementary schools.

2013-05-15 00:00:00

Attorney Thomas Geoghegan leads a press conference at the law firm of Despres, Schwartz and Geoghegan in downtown Chicago, after his firm filed lawsuits to delay and to stop Chicago Public Schools from closing 53 elementary schools.

2013-05-15 00:00:00

as teachers of the National Education Workers Union (SNTE in Spanish) march in demand of the right for secular education at this religious community.

2012-09-06 00:00:00