Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

We review the top religion and ethics stories of the past year.

Christmas carols, hymns, and popular songs embody the meaning of the season; a California college is reviving Islam’s liberal arts tradition; and a community church in Virginia works with Stop Hunger Now to feed hungry children around the world.

Religious leaders are taking a stand against anti-Islam rhetoric and discrimination directed at Muslims; a Princeton ethicist and philosopher says living a fully ethical life means doing the most good we can; and menorahs, dreidels, latkes, and boat parades "spread the miracle" of Hanukkah to residents of San Antonio, Texas

Scientists and policymakers discuss guidelines for manipulating human genes; the Supreme Court revisits the issue of diversity in college admissions policies; and faith gives the retired NFL star and his wife the strength to cope with cancer and death

Religion’s Role in the Face of Terrorism; A New Medellin; Ta’Nehisi Coates

Activists in China are successfully fighting industrial pollution in China and holding factories and their customers in the West accountable; and the first Native American Catholic saint has come to symbolize the Catholic Church's complicated historical relationship with indigenous people.

A growing coalition says reforming America’s criminal justice system is a matter of faith; Rabbi David Saperstein says religious freedom is central to the American identity; and writer Carla Power and Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi debated Islam’s holy book in search of interfaith understanding.

“People are going back to the basic texts, and they’re stripping away centuries of culture and tradition and looking for what they see at the heart of the religion,” says American journalist Carla Power, author of If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran.

The Episcopal Church elects its first African-American presiding bishop; the Supreme Court hears arguments about race and juror selection in a death penalty case; and prayer flags made at the National Cathedral recall friends, saints, and loved ones.

Organizations like Catholic Relief Services confront an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Europe; the 50th anniversary of a historic Second Vatican Council document is observed; and ASU president Michael Crow tries to make college less expensive, more accessible, and more practical

Casa del Migrante offers safe harbor to those fleeing violence and poverty in Central America; and a new novel focuses on the flawed biblical figure of King David.

Physician Barry Kerzin brings Buddhist compassion and meditation to Western medicine; an ultra-Orthodox Jewish charity finds live kidney donors for grateful transplant recipients who are also Jewish; and a growing spiritual practice combines the breathing techniques of yoga and the joy of laughing.

The pope has returned to Rome, but his words and actions are still being debated; and young Israeli-Palestinian singers of the Jerusalem International YMCA believe in “transcending conflict through song."

Pope Francis energized American Catholics and others with his message of peace, compassion, justice, and human dignity; and some Catholics hope that the Church under Pope Francis will be open to reform on divorce, contraceptives, and marriage

Excitement builds for American Catholics ahead of the pope's arrival Tuesday for five busy days in Washington, New York and Philadelphia; and a coalition of demonstrators organized by the NAACP march from Selma, Alabama to Washington, DC to call for an end to discrimination and economic inequality.