The White House is planning a muted observance of Thursday's National Day of Prayer, a response that has disappointed both Christian conservatives and an atheist group that wants to end the tradition. Congress established the day in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray. ... [More]

Republican Congressman John Fleming said he was “disturbed” by President Barack Obama’s request to have the symbolic name for Jesus Christ – IHS – covered from a pediment that was visible behind him when he spoke at Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall on April 14. ... [More]

About half of all Americans have switched religions at least once, according to the most in-depth survey on the topic, released Monday. And that may still be "a conservative estimate," says Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. ... [More]

Not all that long ago, the great minds of Europe predicted a future with little or no religion. Science would make us highly skeptical of miracles. Psychiatry would direct all of our awe and wonder inward. Changing roles for women would weaken the patriarchal structure that props up clerics. Whatever script for modernity one followed, it had God playing a bit role. ... [More]

The Washington D.C. Council earlier this month unanimously passed a measure recognizing same-sex marriages (and civil unions) performed in other jurisdictions, and a measure is expected to be introduced later this year to legalize same-sex marriages in the D.C. jurisdiction. ... [More]

Watchdog group files case on behalf of local families who object to sectarian venue for public event ... [More]

In a Washington Post op-ed article Friday, columnist Michael Gerson examines the facts related to a recent Newsweek cover story entitled "The Decline and Fall of Christian America." According to Gerson, the Newsweek story overstates the evidence for decline. ... [More]

In a ruling that says the St. Johns County School District in Florida violated the First Amendment, a federal judge has banned an elementary school in St. Augustine from having children sing a country song, "In God We Still Trust," at a school assembly. ... [More]

A nation facing problems of biblical proportions appears to be looking less and less to religion for answers. According to a new NEWSWEEK Poll, the percentage of Americans who think faith will help answer all or most of the country's current problems dipped to a historic low of 48 percent, down from 64 percent in 1994. ... [More]

Texas Board of Education handed science a mixed bag of victory and defeat with their Friday vote on state science standards. Although they voted to not include the "strengths and weaknesses" creationist code words, they added amendments that provide major loopholes for creationist teaching. ... [More]

The Texas Board of Education approved a science curriculum that opens the door for teachers and textbooks to raise doubts about evolution. Critics of evolution said they were thrilled with Friday's move. ... [More]

Tensions over how evolution is taught simmered Wednesday as the State Board of Education held the final hearing in the process of adopting new classroom science curriculum standards. Activists took advantage of the last opportunity to testify on the proposed standards, which would drop a 20-year-old rule that requires "strengths and weaknesses" of all scientific theories to be taught. ... [More]

Antiabortion group and conservative catholics, including her bishop, have opposed Sebelius's nomination to the Department of Health and Human Services, but she seems to be faring better than John Kerry did in 2004 when he was attacked by the same forces. ... [More]

Program serves mainly to funnel tax money to religious schools and has not raised student achievement, watchdog group says ... [More]

Civil liberties groups say taxpayers should be allowed to challenge public funding of Baptist childcare agency that indoctrinates children and discriminates against gay workers based on religion ... [More]

The New School For Social Research just concluded a conference on the Religious/Secular Divide in the United States. The Conference was held for two days, 3/5-6, to standing room only crowds at the Tishman Auditorium in New York City. ... [More]

Watchdog Group says Washington, D.C. program forces taxpayers to fund religious schools and diverts attention arom public school improvement -- calls on the Senate to reject Sen. John Ensign's proposal to extend Washington, D.C.'s private school voucher plan. ... [More]

It is truly dismaying that amid all the discussion about President Obama’s version of faith-based community initiatives, there has been such a widespread reluctance to question the basic assumption that government can spend money on religiously based enterprises without violating the First Amendment. ... [More]

A new nationwide study of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider finds little variation in consumption between states. ... However, ... states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds. ... [More]

Unprecedented in recent history, Obama's practice of opening presidential events with a prayer seems like it will become a new tradition, further eroding the boundaries between church and state. ... [More]