Religion and politics

Vice President Mike Pence takes a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, in Memphis Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020. (Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal via AP)
January 20, 2020 - 1:02 am

Martin Luther King holiday: Faith, politics mix this holiday

ATLANTA (AP) — The nation is marking the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with tributes Monday recalling his past struggles for racial equality, observing the federal holiday named for him against the backdrop of a presidential election year. In an early tribute to King, Vice President...
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This July 31, 2019 photo shows Stillwater Christian School parents Jeri Anderson and Kendra Espinoza at Woodland Park in Kalispell, Mont. The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020 in a dispute over a Montana scholarship program for private K-12 education that also makes donors eligible for up to $150 in state tax credits. Advocates on both sides say the outcome could be momentous because it could lead to efforts in other states to funnel taxpayer money to religious schools. (Casey Kreider/The Daily Inter Lake via AP)
January 18, 2020 - 10:19 am

Justices taking up bans on state money to religious schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Supreme Court that seems more favorable to religion-based discrimination claims is set to hear a case that could make it easier to use public money to pay for religious schooling in many states. The justices will hear arguments Wednesday in a dispute over a Montana scholarship...
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FILE - In this June 17, 2019 file photo, The Supreme Court is seen in Washington. The Supreme Court will consider Trump administration rules expanding religious, moral exemptions from contraceptive coverage. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
January 17, 2020 - 4:51 pm

Court to look anew at health care law birth control rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will consider allowing the Trump administration to enforce rules that allow more employers to deny insurance coverage for contraceptives to women. The justices agreed Friday to yet another case stemming from President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, this...
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In this Jan. 16, 2020, photo, from left, attendees of a black voter outreach event held by President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign at Philadelphia’s First Immanuel Baptist Church assemble for a group picture after the discussion. Trump’s reelection campaign is reaching out to black voters through one of their communities’ most important institutions — black churches. (AP Photo/Elana Schor)
January 17, 2020 - 4:42 pm

Trump's black voter outreach looks in part to the pews

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In the eight years since he became a pastor at First Immanuel Baptist Church, Todd Johnson says he's seen his congregation's politics make a subtle shift. The Philadelphia church, which recently hosted a Donald Trump campaign event reaching out to black voters, has “more people...
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In this Jan. 14, 2020, photo, President Donald Trump arrives at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena to speak at a campaign rally in Milwaukee. Trump's surrogates are fanning out across the country as part of an aggressive effort to stretch his appeal beyond the base of working-class white voters who propelled him to victory in 2016 (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
January 17, 2020 - 6:23 am

Trump campaign tries robust outreach to expand his appeal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Selfies on a “Women for Trump” bus tour through Iowa. Volunteer training at a “Black Voices for Trump” organizing session in Philadelphia. A vice presidential headliner at a "Latinos for Trump” event in Florida. President Donald Trump's surrogates fanned out across the country...
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Vice President Mike Pence delivers remarks during a campaign event Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
January 16, 2020 - 7:37 pm

Pence courts evangelical Latino voters in Florida

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — Marilyn Del Valle climbed to her feet at the Nacion de Fe church in Kissimmee on Thursday, clapping and taking photos as Vice President Mike Pence took the stage. Del Valle is a proud “Nuyorican” — born in New York to Puerto Rican parents — who lives in central Florida. She's...
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President Donald Trump listens to a question during an event on prayer in public schools, in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
January 16, 2020 - 6:18 pm

Trump boosts school prayer, faith groups as he rallies base

In a bid to solidify his evangelical base, President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to protect prayer in public schools and took new steps to give religious organizations easier access to federal programs. Speaking at an Oval Office event and joined by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Trump...
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Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, debates a proposal allowing faith-based adoption agencies to decline to place children with same-sex couples because of their religious belief without facing penalties on the first day of the 2020 legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
January 14, 2020 - 6:29 pm

Tennessee governor says he will sign anti-LGBT adoption bill

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday that he'll sign into law a measure that would assure continued taxpayer funding of faith-based foster care and adoption agencies even if they exclude LGBT families and others based on religious beliefs. The GOP-controlled Senate gave...
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FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2020 file photo, supporters of President Donald Trump turn and yell towards the news media during a rally for evangelical supporters at the King Jesus International Ministry in Miami. Trump's bond with white evangelical voters has long sparked debate. But misunderstandings persist about his support from a Christian voting bloc that favored the GOP long before he took office. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
January 13, 2020 - 11:20 am

Trump's faithful: 2020 tests his ties to white evangelicals

NEW YORK (AP) — White evangelical support for President Donald Trump has sparked debate for years -- particularly this winter, with his impeachment trial looming. But for all the focus it commands, uncertainty continues to surround Trump’s bond with a religious constituency that has long leaned GOP...
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President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, in Toledo, Ohio. (AP Photo/ Jacquelyn Martin)
AP News
January 11, 2020 - 12:52 am

White House considering dramatic expansion of travel ban

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering dramatically expanding its much-litigated travel ban to additional countries amid a renewed election-year focus on immigration by President Donald Trump, according to six people familiar with the deliberations. A document outlining the plans — timed...
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