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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court voted Friday to hear a potentially far-reaching claim of religious freedom and decide whether church-sponsored charities, programs and businesses may refuse to pay state unemployment taxes for their employees.

All states exempt churches and church programs from the taxes if they "operate primarily for religious ...Read more

People of faith are not more generous than non-religious people — except in one case, a new study found.

A study by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden found that religious people are more generous than non-religious people when they know the recipients’ religious beliefs — otherwise there is no difference.

The research ...Read more

Q: I have always enjoyed your God wink stories so I decided to share mine. When my daughter was very little, maybe 4, while in her room one morning she said out of the blue, “That’s when the angels come and get me and take me.”

I was a little concerned thinking, is this a sign from above letting me know she may be taken from ...Read more

Many of the God winks you send me, dear readers, have to do with music. The songs of our life somehow act as signs that the life of our souls extends beyond the grave. Also many God winks are connected to sacred places – not only houses of worship but places where love and hope and joy were given and received. Here is a lovely and poignant God...Read more

NEW YORK — A years-long legal battle between Long Island’s Catholic diocese and hundreds of alleged sex abuse victims came to an end Wednesday, with a bankruptcy judge in Manhattan approving a plan that finalizes a $323 million settlement.

As part of the settlement, the Diocese of Rockville Centre will begin making payments next year to ...Read more

Ellen O'Brian hadn't bought a candy-filled advent calendar in years, but when she saw the festive cardboard box with little numbered panels in her local natural foods store, she couldn't resist.

"It's put out by a chocolate maker called Divine, and it's dark chocolate for the dark time of the year," said O'Brian, founder of the Center for ...Read more

Thanks dear readers for your suggestions for little things we overlook on Thanksgiving. If this column arrives after Thanksgiving it is no problem. Thanksgiving is more than a holiday. Thanksgiving is a state of the soul. Here is my favorite this year from M…

My husband of 26 ...Read more

I am still flooded and inspired by the God winks you are sending to me, and I thank you from the bottom of my winking heart. Even so, I am happy to take a break from God winks to send along my annual Thanksgiving blessings and my suggestions for things, animals and people for which, and for whom, we should give thanks, but do not....Read more

Certain patterns are emerging from the flood of God winks I have received. The vast majority of your winks are completely non-extraordinary events that occur at completely extraordinary moments. They do not violate natural law but their appearance in your life is way more than a simple coincidence. What makes them wonderful to me is that you are...Read more

Two reasons above all keep me sharing God winks with you, my dear readers.

First, they are a source of hope for those of you who are in grief over the death of a loved one. You want to know that death is not the end of us, and I believe with you and your winks that death is definitely not the end of us. It ought to comfort you to know that ...Read more

When you scrape away the fun and silly, but charming, veneer of what is now the thoroughly secularized holiday of Halloween; when you get beyond the extorted candy of trick-or-treat; when you finish carving and lighting your last pumpkin; when you take off the ridiculous costume you wore to a Halloween party, and ...Read more