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What does it mean to claim the US is a Christian nation, and what does the Constitution say?

Many Americans believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and the idea is energizing some conservative and Republican activists. But the concept means different things to different people, and historians say that while the issue is complex, the founding documents prioritize religious freedom and do not create a Christian nation. Does the U.S. Constitution establish Christianity as an official religion? No. What does the Constitution say about religion? “(N)o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United ...

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has been trying for years to debunk the idea that its vaunted secret archives are all that secret: It has opened up the files of controversial World War II-era Pope Pius XII to scholars and changed the official name to remove the word “Secret” from its title. But a certain aura of myth and mystery has persisted — until now. The longtime prefect of what is now named the Vatican Apostolic Archive, Archbishop Sergio Pagano, is spilling the beans for the first time, revealing some of the secrets he has uncovered in the 45 years he has worked in one ...

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NEW YORK (RNS) — At a Sunday morning service on Sunday (Feb. 4), a priest gave a sermon, a choir sang devotional hymns and a congregation bowed heads in a joint prayer. It was a typical Sunday for these faithful New Yorkers. Yet rather than a church, this service took place at a spiritual home meant for believers under any name, from Christians to Hindus to self-professed “truth-seekers.” The Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, built for the revered Indian monastic who brought the interfaith teachings of Vedantic Hinduism to America and his guru, is the gathering place ...

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NEW YORK (AP) — Even as Catholic dogma continues to repudiate same-sex marriage and gender transition, one of the most prominent religious orders in the United States — the Jesuits — is strengthening a unique outreach program for LGBTQ+ Catholics. The initiative — fittingly called Outreach — was founded two years ago by the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit who is one of the country’s most prominent advocates for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church. Outreach, a ministry of the Jesuit magazine America, sponsored conferences in New York City in 2022 and 2023, and last ...

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By RODOLFO BONNIN Florida International University In 2021, someone in the U.S. died by suicide every 11 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That rate equates to nearly 50,000 Americans every year. Another 1.7 million people in the U.S. attempted suicide in 2021, and over 12 million more had suicidal thoughts. And the numbers appear to be getting worse: Preliminary numbers for 2022 show a 2.6% increase in suicide deaths from 2021. Suicide particularly affects younger people – it remains one of the top three causes of death for those between ...

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ROME (AP) — Friar Paolo Benanti wears the plain brown robes of his medieval Franciscan order as he pursues one of the most pressing issues in contemporary times: how to govern artificial intelligence so that it enriches — and doesn’t exploit — people’s lives. Benanti is the Vatican’s go-to person on the technology and he has the ear of Pope Francis as well as some of Silicon Valley’s top engineers and executives. With a background in engineering, a doctorate in moral theology and a passion for what he calls the “ethics of technology,’’ the 50-year-old Italian ...