NEW YORK — The percentage of U.S. adults who belong to a church or other religious institution has plunged by 20 percentage points over the past two decades, hitting a low of 50% last year, according to a new Gallup poll. Among major demographic groups, the biggest drops were recorded...
Mormons Repeal Ban on Baptisms for Children of Gay Parents
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Thursday repealed rules unveiled in 2015 that banned baptisms for children of gay parents and made gay marriage a sin worthy of expulsion. The surprise announcement by the faith widely known as the Mormon church reverses rules...
Analysis: Pope's Sex Abuse Summit: What It Did and Didn't Do
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis' summit on preventing sexual abuse was never going to meet the expectations placed on it by victims groups, the media and ordinary Catholics outraged over a scandal that has harmed so many and compromised the church's moral authority so much. Indeed, no sweeping new law...