(RNS) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday (Oct. 15) that the Pentagon will not livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter, backing away from a proposal that triggered widespread pushback from prominent religious leaders.

(RNS) — You can blame the Methodists for that.

(RNS) — ‘Black, Jewish, and Beautiful,’ which published Oct. 15 by Syracuse University Press, includes essays by and interviews with 14 Black Jews from across the United States, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Uganda.

(The Conversation) — St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy is one of many cases in which religious schools have challenged the wall between church and state.

(The Conversation) — There is no single way to tell the story of the ‘Ramayana.’ People from different religious traditions and cultural backgrounds have reimagined the epic in countless ways.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The council said its objection is in response to Bocelli’s past support for Israel, including his participation in a 2010 fundraiser in Los Angeles for the Israel Defense Forces and a 2022 concert in Tel Aviv.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has detailed laws, rituals and norms to transfer papal power if a pope dies or resigns. But none of them apply when he is sick or even unconscious.

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(RNS) — We are bent under the weight of the most powerful man in the world: The Ukraine war. The Iranian war. Gas prices. Food prices. ICE abuses of immigrants. The Epstein files.

(RNS) — As Idaho, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia prepare to vote on abortion-related ballot measures, polling suggests abortion is less of a priority for voters than in other recent election cycles.

(RNS) — Religious Americans are unhappy with both political parties, Donald Trump and the state of the country ahead of the midterms, according to Pew Research. The economy and the future of democracy top their concerns.

(RNS) — 'My faith teaches me that every person has dignity. It is easy to say those words from a pulpit. It is different to live them from here,' writes Molis Augustave, a Haitian pastor who spent weeks in detention before he was deported to Haiti.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV is recovering after lung cancer surgery, with a demanding South America trip scheduled just 24 days after the operation. His recovery and further test results will help determine whether he can make the journey.

(The Conversation) — Many Americans have decried today’s politics as ‘shameless.’ The antidote, a political philosopher argues, may be more reverence – awe at just how difficult democracy is.

CEUTA, Spain (AP) — The crisis was triggered in late July when about 80,000 people poured into the Spanish exclave from neighboring Morocco, driven by rumors online that Spain had opened its border.

CAIRO (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition also said it had twice intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles launched Monday by the Houthis toward Riyadh.

(RNS) — In recent months, I have noticed viral sermon snippets popping up on my timelines from conservative, fundamentalist African American Christians denouncing membership in historically African American intercollegiate fraternities and sororities and the Freemason fraternal orders.

(RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo selection includes the rededication of a historic church in Virginia, a presidential inauguration at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and more.

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (RNS) — R. Scott Pace succeeds Daniel Akin, a key champion of the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention in the early 1980s. At his inauguration, Pace promised to continue that conservative mission.

(RNS) — What does Judaism say about what happened to Christa Pike and what is planned for Nidal Hasan?

ROME (AP) — Tests confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin after the surgery.

(RNS) — The archdiocese’s statement adds to the list of faith leaders who have condemned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plans to livestream the execution of former Major Nidal Hasan.

(RNS) — The Democratic clergy running are making some races unexpectedly tight.

(RNS) — In a statement shared exclusively with RNS, 35 organizations wrote that the decline in hate crimes registered by the FBI isn’t 'synonymous with safety.'

ROME (AP) — The American pontiff has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy.

(RNS) — Like Francis, Leo understands the synodal process is more important than any teaching that comes out of the event.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — As Pope Leo XIV prepares for surgery to remove a lung nodule, questions have arisen about what prompted the procedure, how long he will remain in the hospital and who runs the Vatican during his absence.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — Hundreds of residents gathered for a community-wide re-dedication of the original First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, which was established in 1776 by enslaved and free African Americans in defiance of laws that prevented them from congregating.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican typically allows criminal investigations to play out before initiating canonical trials so as not to interfere, and that is especially so now in Australia, after the church's wretched legacy there of abuse and cover-up.

(RNS) — In a now-erased social media post, the Texas pastor compared Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israel, to convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, saying 'let's kill two birds with one stone.'

Jim Bakker turned religious intimacy into an American empire—and showed how faith, fame, fraud and reinvention could share the same stage.

(RNS) — The history of public executions suggests that when they are staged in free countries, they serve to degrade the citizens.

(RNS) — ‘We have to try to make it so big it can't be rigged,’ Michigan Baptist leader the Rev. James C. Perkins said of voter turnout efforts.

(RNS) —  Two decades after his first novel became a runaway hit, William Paul Young returns to the world of ‘The Shack’ in a story where a grieving father meets the man who killed his daughter.

Host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush talks voting despite any obstacles with Civic Nation CEO Kyle Lierman and "Otis' Dream" filmmaker Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III

(RNS) — ‘The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people,’ Archbishop Paul S. Coakley said in a statement.

(RNS) — Bishop Dennis G. Walsh wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to urge him to stop the deportation of Fatou Traore, which he called a ‘grave violation of her human dignity and the rights that are intrinsic to each one of us.’

(The Conversation) — Bakker’s ‘PTL Club’ existed at the nexus of evangelical Christianity and American pop culture.

(The Conversation) — From the printing press to smartphone apps, technology has continually transformed the experience of sacred journeys. A scholar of trails and walking explains the history.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — His visit comes four days after nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals returned to Myanmar from Malaysia.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Leo opened a weeklong, closed-door conference assessing the implementation of Francis' 2016 document “The Joy of Love.”

BANGKOK (AP) — The case has drawn widespread attention since questions about the handling of funds for the hospice emerged online and prompted an investigation.

(RNS) — Michel Abs of the Middle East Council of Churches discusses his organization’s emergency response in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank.

(RNS) — The first woman and first out lesbian to lead a Jewish congregational movement reflects on seven convictions about religion, community and democracy.

PERTH, Australia (AP) — A District Court of Western Australia state jury convicted Christopher Saunders, 76, in August of 13 out of 19 charges of sexual abuse that occurred between 2008 and 2019 in his sprawling Broome Diocese on the country’s tropical northwest coast.

SDEROT, Israel (AP) — Three years on, a visit to the communities attacked that day made clear: It’s too soon for many residents to see the Palestinians next door as anything other than a threat.

VENICE, Italy (AP) — The film received a record 25-minute standing ovation when it debuted at the Venice Film Festival. The backlash in Israel, which holds its own elections at the end of this month, has been just as thunderous.

(The Forward) — Pro-Palestinian activists interrupt peace vigil, accusing mayor of ‘capitulating to Zionist pressure.'

A set of rather strange bedfellows is insisting the real solution to 'saving western civilization' is ... a king?

(RNS) — A criminal complaint alleges that Seth Day sexually assaulted the couple's daughter. The couple has been barred from seeing their children by an emergency protective order.