Church & State

Dec 2, 2024 | au.org | Gareth Gore |Bruce J. Dierenfield

Editor’s note: Two new books examine aspects of church-state relations that may be of interest to Church & State readers. Here the authors discuss their new works. By Gareth GoreNestled among the lobbying firms and think tanks on K Street in downtown Washington, D.C., the Catholic Information Center (CIC) looks inconspicuous and unassuming.

Sep 12, 2023 | au.org | Phil Zuckerman

In America these days, more houses of worship are closing than opening. A 2019 study by Lifeway Research analyzed 34 Protestant denominations and found that while 3,000 new denominations opened that year, a larger number, 4,500, shut down. “Even before the pandemic, the pace of opening new congregations was not even providing enough replacements for those that closed their doors,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.

Jul 10, 2023 | au.org | Rebecca Brenner Graham

Feb 23, 2023 | au.org | Jonathan Moore

Last Saturday, a group of parents and their children gathered at a bookstore in Silver Spring, Md., for a drag queen story hour. Such events, where, as the name implies, drag queens read stories to children, have become popular around the country – despite frequent howls of protests from Christian Nationalists and others. This event, taking place in a private venue called Loyalty Bookstores, should have been non-controversial. But a group of extremist “Proud Boys” showed up and tried to disrupt it.

Feb 17, 2021 | au.org | Claire Miller