Large numbers of Americans in many different religious groups express concern about fewer people getting married.

By comparison, there is much less concern about people having fewer children. In fact, Catholics and members of the historically Black Protestant tradition are as likely to say that people having fewer children is positive for society as to say it is negative.

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/14/across-us-religious-groups-more-see-decline-of-marriage-as-negative-than-positive/

(RNS) — Representatives of atheist and secular groups held their first meeting with White House officials last week, marking a willingness by the Biden administration to work with the growing networks of religiously unaffiliated Americans.

The Secular Coalition for America set up the Friday (May 14) meeting with Melissa Rogers, executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

...

The share of Black Americans who do not identify with any religion is increasing, as is true among Americans overall. Still, the vast majority of religiously unaffiliated Black Americans believe in God and about half pray regularly, although few attend religious services, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. 

And in ...

The Supreme Court handed down a deeply strange order Thursday evening, denying relief to a religious private school in Kentucky that wants to reopen despite a Covid-19 related order closing all primary and secondary schools in the state.

Source: The Supreme Court’s confusing new “religious liberty”...

Darrin Johnson would like nothing better than to rid the Black community of organized religion.

 The way Johnson sees it, Black people “don’t need outside beliefs or higher powers.”

“We have power,” Johnson said. “We are powerful entities. We just need to use that power.”

As an organizer with his local Black Lives Matter chapter, Johnson, an atheist, has sometimes felt a bit uneasy meeting in churches and working alongside pastors, who, like him, are calling for Black liberation.

Source:...

A religious studies professor at the University of Pennsylvania said thousands of faculty are supporting a “scholar strike” during which they are focusing on racial injustice in or out of their classrooms this week.

“I would be down as a professor to follow the NBA and Strike for a few days to protest police violence in America,” said Anthea Butler, who also teaches Africana studies, in an Aug. 26 tweet.

Source:...

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the first Muslim women in Congress, has joined the Congressional Freethought Caucus.

Launched in 2018, the caucus seeks to promote secular government, separation of church and state, freedom of conscience and policy “based on reason, science, and moral values,” and to oppose discrimination against nonreligious people, or the so-called nones.

Source:...

For more than 35 years, Jayrod Garrett’s life was immersed in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He fondly remembers going on a missionary trip to Hawaii, participating in a scouts program and making lifelong friends. He also recalls how hurt he felt when a church leader didn’t believe him when a group of kids called him the N-word or how tough it was grappling with the church’s stance against gay marriage.

In 2016, after years of feeling conflicted, Garrett left the church.

Now, he identifies as an atheist.

He...

As students and educators struggle with emergency online instruction, and many prepare for distance learning in the fall, quality online educational resources have never been more critical. The Pluralism Project’s newly redesigned website, pluralism.org, responds to this urgent need. Professor Diana L. Eck, the Pluralism Project’s founder and director, explains, “The Pluralism Project has long had a wide online presence. But now, with the impact of COVID-19 and the closure of campuses across the U.S., our wholly renovated and easy-to-use...

They lit candles, shared silence and a meditative blessing together. They read the words of an essay from “The Book of Delights,” by Ross Gay, and listened to “One Voice” by The Wailin’ Jennys. They dispersed into groups to reflect on anything the song and the poem may have evoked in them.

Then the 19 people at Family Chapel went back to work, in New York and Chicago and several time zones in between, resuming their Thursday afternoons or mornings.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic came ashore in the United States, traditional houses of worship have moved their worship...

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds declared Thursday a day of prayer as the state continues to battle the coronavirus, but one group says that's not her place. 

During her daily press conference Thursday morning, Reynolds asked Iowans to pray for protection, healing, grace and peace. 

"This has been a challenging time for all of us but with God’s grace there is always a promise of hope," she said. 

Interfaith Alliance of Iowa executive director Connie Ryan said the group was alarmed by the ...

More than 90 years ago, on a cold and stormy December night in Kansas, a Christian minister named Charles Sheldon walked into a crowded gymnasium to take in a college basketball game.

Sheldon is best known as the author of “In His Steps,” the 1896 book that popularized the “What Would Jesus Do?” phrase.

But in 1929 Sheldon was not wondering what Jesus would do; he was wondering what his church members were already doing.

As he watched the basketball game play out in front of him, Sheldon began to reflect.

“I couldn’t help wondering, while...