LONDON (RNS) — Work has begun on a new library to house the biggest collection of religious works in the world, outside the Vatican. The library tower, due to open in two years, is the first edifice in 100 years to be built on the grounds of Lambeth Palace, home of the archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion. It will house major collections connected to the history of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, the archives of the archbishops of Canterbury, records of Anglican clergy, genealogical sources, documents about the coronations of English monarchs and considerable numbers of manuscripts relating to Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Mary Tudor and Mary Queen of Scots. The new building will also house the archives of the Church of England, known as the National Church Archives. The nine-story structure, expected to cost 23 million pounds ($30 million), will also accommodate 120,000 books and 40,000 pamphlets that make … [Read more...]

NASHVILLE (USA Today) — Indie Pereira and her wife Pari Bhatt still want a church wedding. The Nashville couple regularly attends St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, but opted for a civil ceremony in the living room of the city’s former mayor because their bishop will not permit same-sex couples to have the religious ceremonies in the church. Pereira and Bhatt live and worship within the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee, which is one of only eight dioceses in the country where such a ban exists. Their struggle is illustrative of how views on marriage continue to threaten the unity of the denomination. The other dioceses that ban same-sex marriage ceremonies in the church are Albany, New York; Central Florida; Dallas; Florida; North Dakota; Springfield, Illinois; and the Virgin Islands, according to a report from the church’s Task Force on the Study of Marriage. “It amazes me that I could literally go to any other dioceses that touches us and get married,” said Pereira. But … [Read more...]

(RNS) — As the summer heat waxes and state legislative sessions wane, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation has scored a few small but significant victories. This year, five state legislatures passed laws mandating that every public school prominently display the U.S. motto, “In God We Trust.” The addition of Arkansas, which passed such a law in 2017, brings to six the number of states with public school mandates, including Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Louisiana and Tennessee. Those laws, mostly sponsored by legislative prayer caucuses in about 30 states, were inspired by the foundation’s 2017 manual known as Project Blitz, a 116-page guide for state legislators listing 20 model bills of which “In God We Trust” is the first. For a foundation begun in late 2005 as an offshoot of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, that’s an impressive start. The list of “In God We Trust” legislation doesn’t count states like Minnesota that passed a law allowing but not mandating that … [Read more...]