LOS ANGELES, Calif., Feb. 6, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — In an era of increased polarization, rising hate crimes, and social and economic challenges affecting all segments of society, religious leaders gathered at the Church of Scientology to review how religions can work together to improve the quality of life for their congregations and the greater community.

The program, held February 3, marked World Interfaith Harmony Week, established by the UN to “promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith” with the conviction that “mutual understanding and...

PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 4, 2023 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — A religious freedom conference and open house at the Church of Scientology Pasadena brought faith leaders together to promote diversity and respect at a time when rising hate crimes, conflict and war bring the importance of religious freedom and understanding into sharp relief. The  ...

After School Satan Clubs have been steadily increasing in popularity and are not likely to slow as their supporters rack up media attention and legal wins fighting for free speech. 

The clubs, associated with the Satanic Temple and offered only in primary schools, began at the beginning of 2020 and quickly gained attention from parents who wanted an alternative to religious clubs, according to June Everett, campaign director of the After School Satan Club.

“That’s kind of when things started blowing up. And I anticipate that every year moving forward is going...

The Satanic Temple is celebrating 10 years of existence with its SatanCon convention in Boston this weekend, but it's not what you probably think.

The organization is as much a theater of American satire as it is a place for believers.

The temple, not be confused with the Satanic Church, does not formally deify Satan as the personification of evil, but rather it sees him as a literary character, a necessary rebel, while mocking traditional religion and calling out government’s embrace of institutions like the Catholic Church, co-founder Malcolm Jarry said.

An attorney for an Orlando church asked an 11th Circuit panel on Wednesday to overturn a Florida federal judge’s dismissal of its challenge to a Drug Enforcement Administration decision prohibiting the church from using psychedelic ayahuasca tea in its religious retreats.

Billing itself as a “spiritual learning and healing center,” Soul Quest Church of Mother Earth offers three-day retreats at its facility where participants can imbibe ayahuasca, a tea that contains the hallucinogen dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, in search of a religious awakening. For a $999 donation, Soul Quest...

Sheetal Deo was shocked when she got a letter from her Queens apartment building’s co-op board calling her Diwali decoration “offensive” and demanding she take it down.

“My decoration said ‘Happy Diwali’ and had a swastika on it,” said Deo, a physician, who was celebrating the Hindu festival of lights.

The equilateral cross with its legs bent at right angles is a millennia-old sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism that represents peace and good fortune, and was also used widely by Indigenous people worldwide in a similar vein.

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The possibility that states might decriminalize the general use of peyote is raising concerns among Indigenous practitioners, who employ the cactus in traditional settings like the Native American Church. Already, the Navajo Nation is moving to oppose any changes in the law.

As states continue to decriminalize marijuana, Tracy Willie, director of the Navajo medicine man group Azeé Bee Nahaghá of Diné Nation, Inc., said there could be a domino effect of states wanting to decriminalize peyote, which is a Schedule I controlled substance under...

Seated below the stained glass of a historic Gothic Revival church building with incense burning and lit by multicolored lamps, nearly 100 people were gathered on a recent summer day to hear speakers talk about how their lives had been transformed, not by faith but by psychedelic drugs.

The first EntheoCon, advertised as a “psychedelic salon,” held Aug. 20, was organized by a new network of advocates of plant medicine, who aim to create awareness about psychedelics’ healing properties. They had invited therapists, shamans, wellness gurus and community members to listen...

At the Zide Door church of entheogenic plants in Oakland, Calif., the minister wears a robe printed with cannabis leaves. During sermons, members are free to smoke marijuana — received as a “sacrament” — in an effort to connect with a higher power.

In August 2020, the church’s operations were interrupted when Oakland police officers raided the building and seized about $200,000 in cannabis, psilocybin mushrooms and cash, claiming that the establishment operated more like an illegal dispensary...

 Two Arizona churches are fighting in federal court to establish a right to use a sacramental tea brewed from plants containing a hallucinogenic compound in their religious practice.

The Arizona Yagé Assembly and the Church of the Eagle and the Condor allege in separate lawsuits that their constitutional right to the free exercise of their religion has been violated by federal agencies' seizure of their ayahuasca, an herbal tea that contains a small amount of dimethyltryptamine.

The churches are seeking a declaration that the government's actions stopping them...

In a tiny town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, a religious organization called the Fellowship of Friends has established an elaborate, 1,200-acre compound full of art and ornate architecture.

More than 200 miles away from the Fellowship’s base in Oregon House, Calif., the religious sect, which believes a higher consciousness can be achieved by embracing fine arts and culture, has also gained a foothold inside a business unit at Google.

Even in Google’s freewheeling office culture, which encourages employees to speak their own minds and pursue their own...

At this year’s Azeé Bee Nahagha - Native American Church Summit, the Navajo Nation Council discussed ways to protect the use of peyote for tribal ceremonies and medicinal use as outlined by the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments of 1994.

The Navajo-Hopi Observer reports Navajo leaders raised concerns about the potential for the plant to be used recreationally by non-Indigenous people. Peyote is a sacred plant to many tribes and has been used for centuries as part of religious, cultural and medicinal ceremonies.

As some states, including California,...

“No wonder this stuff’s getting so damn popular,” exclaims Shirley to her friend Joan at the start of George Romero’s 1972 film “Hungry Wives.” Joan and Shirley, two neglected middle-age suburban housewives, are on their way to a tarot reading.

What’s getting “so damn popular” is witchcraft.

“The religion offers a retreat” for repressed women, Shirley notes, adding, “Christ, what other kind of women are there?”

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The ACLU of Virginia announced today that a settlement agreement has been reached in Burke v. Clarke, a federal lawsuit on behalf of Randy Burke, a practicing Rastafarian who was put in solitary confinement for over five years for refusing to cut his hair, even though it violated a tenet of his religion.

During his time in solitary confinement, Burke was also denied opportunities to practice his religion, including receiving religious services, religious items, and holiday meals.

Burke was originally incarcerated in the Virgin Islands and was...

DANVILLE, Va. — Danville may be the City of Churches, but a growing community of New Age spiritualists is quietly choosing meditation over prayer, and crystals over communion.

A paradigm shift
When 23-year-old Briana Pierce was a teenager at Chatham High School, she had to travel to Greensboro to visit a metaphysical shop and explore her Pagan beliefs. Now, there are three in the City of Danville alone.

"I have always been interested in the idea of things like magic," Pierce said. "That definitely always pulled me off of the religious beaten path. As a child, I...