Religious education
Motorists sit inside their vehicles as they wait their turn to be inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine at Dodger Stadium parking lot in Los Angeles. More California counties are opening up vaccines to younger adults, a week ahead of the state broadening eligibility to everyone 16 and up. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
High court halts Calif. virus rules limiting home worship

By Jessica Gresko Apr. 10, 2021 01:22 AM EDT

FILE - in this Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, students attend an open air class at a primary school in Kabul, Afghanistan, An Afghan education ministry memo banning girls, 12 years old and older, from singing at public school functions, which the education ministry tells The Associated Press was a mistake, is causing a social media stir. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
Memo banning Afghan girls singing prompts #IAmMySong protest

By Kathy Gannon Mar. 12, 2021 03:15 PM EST

FILE - This Nov. 4, 2020 file photo shows the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
High court revives ex-student's suit against Georgia college

By Jessica Gresko Mar. 08, 2021 06:35 PM EST

Pope Francis meets authorities and civil society at Baghdad's Presidential Palace, Iraq, Friday, March 5, 2021. Pope Francis has arrived in Iraq to urge the country's dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The Latest: Pope honors massacre victims at Baghdad church

Mar. 05, 2021 06:07 AM EST

FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2004 file photo, Iraqis protest in the streets of the southern city of Basra carrying posters of Shiite leaders including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, right, the top cleric of Iraq's Shiite majority. On Saturday, March 6, 2021, Pope Francis will visit the 90-year-old Grand Ayatollah who is revered by many Shiites worldwide and whose words hold powerful influence in Iraq and beyond. The pontiff and ayatollah will meet in al-Sistani’s modest home in the Iraqi city of Najaf. (AP Photo/Nabeel al-Jurani, File)
Intense preparations before pontiff meets Iraqi ayatollah

By Qassim Abdul-Zahra And Samya Kullab Mar. 03, 2021 01:20 AM EST

File - In this Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021 file photo, Israeli police officers clash with ultra-Orthodox Jews in Ashdod, Israel. Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators clashed with Israeli police officers dispatched to close schools in Jerusalem and Ashdod that had opened in violation of coronavirus lockdown rules, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)
Israel's ultra-Orthodox reject criticism, defy virus rules

By Ilan Ben Zion Feb. 10, 2021 01:24 AM EST

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews participate in the funeral for prominent rabbi Meshulam Soloveitchik, in Jerusalem, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021. The mass ceremony took place despite the country's health regulations banning large public gatherings, during a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Thousands join in Jerusalem funerals, flout pandemic rules

By Ilan Ben Zion Jan. 31, 2021 07:52 AM EST

A person walks by newly-placed barricades around the Supreme Court Building, the day after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Congress in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Supreme Court wrestles with Georgia college free speech case

By Jessica Gresko Jan. 12, 2021 02:33 PM EST

FILE - In this Thursday, July 2, 2020, file photo, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf arrives at a naturalization ceremony for 16 new Americans at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. In a letter to Wolf, leaders of 12 Christian organizations on Friday, July 10, 2020, urged the Trump administration to rescind a policy requiring international students to leave the U.S. or transfer if their colleges hold classes entirely online this fall, saying it “falls short of American ideals.” (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
Christian groups oppose ICE rule on international students

By Elana Schor Jul. 10, 2020 02:55 PM EDT

A man on a bicycle stops to take a photograph outside the Supreme Court, Wednesday, July 8, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Supreme Court sides with Catholic schools in employment suit

By Jessica Gresko Jul. 08, 2020 10:23 AM EDT

Trooper resigns after text about coughing to spread COVID-19

Jun. 09, 2020 05:39 PM EDT
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia state trooper has resigned after he claimed in a text message that he coughed on a driver he ticketed in hopes of spreading the...

This 2020 photo provided by Ellen Dubin Photography shows Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz in New York. On Monday, the Jewish Theological Seminary announced Schwartz as their eighth chancellor - and first woman to serve in the role - in its 134-year history. (Ellen Dubin Photography via AP)
Prominent Jewish seminary names Schwartz as 1st woman leader

By David Crary Jun. 01, 2020 12:47 PM EDT

Seminarist Paolo Timpano reads a breviary as he prays at the San Giovanni Battista church in Rho, northern Italy on Friday, May 8, 2020. With coronavirus raging outside and inside Europe's largest diocesan seminary, the nearly 130 young men studying to become Catholic priests at the Seminario di Milano in northern Italy were confined strictly to their rooms for weeks. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Beyond pandemic, reimagining Italy’s Catholic clergy

By Giovanna Dell’orto May. 27, 2020 09:47 PM EDT

President Donald Trump listens as Sister Eneyda Martinez, with Poor Sisters of St. Joseph, at left podium, speaks during a White House National Day of Prayer Service in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 7, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Poll: US believers see message of change from God in virus

By Elana Schor And Hannah Fingerhut May. 15, 2020 11:00 AM EDT

Pastor Paul Marc Goulet prays to people in their cars at an Easter drive-in service at the International Church of Las Vegas due to the coronavirus outbreak, Sunday, April 12, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Poll: Most in US back curbing in-person worship amid virus

By Elana Schor And Emily Swanson May. 08, 2020 11:00 AM EDT