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Articles by Meredith Somers

A parade reveler proudly waves the flag of Ireland on Saturday, March 15, 2014, during the 53rd Scranton St.Patrick's Day Parade held in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo / The Scranton Times-Tribune, Butch Comegys) MANDATORY CREDIT

Some forgo parties, recall heritage on St. Patrick’s Day

Americans will don their Kelly green on Monday, gathering at bars and along parade routes to celebrate St. Patrick, the patron saint of dancing leprechauns and half-price pints of Guinness — or so the past few decades would suggest.

March 16, 2014
Conservative UNITER: Ronald Reagan was one of the speakers at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 1986 and at the group's first gathering in 1974, when nearly 1,000 people listened to California's governor at the time. Stan Evans, the ACU chairman who presided over that conference, said it was simple back then: "Are you for Reagan or not?" (Getty Images)

ACU at 50: Strong and looking ahead

The year the American Conservative Union began, Ronald Reagan was a newly minted Republican, Nikita Khrushchev had been recently ousted as leader of the Soviet Union, and the U.S. was just beginning to deepen its involvement in the Vietnam War.

March 5, 2014
Diogo Morgado is painful to watch but hard to turn away from during the Crucifixion of Jesus in "Son of God," one of three religious-themed movies at the box office this year. (20th Century Fox via Associated Press)

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Son of God’

Just about everybody in "Son of God" is looking good. As portrayed by Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado, Jesus looks like a surfer-dude sibling of Ashton Kutcher.

February 27, 2014
IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION - The audience embraces the message at AIDS Healthcare Foundation's community forum in a nationwide series on "AIDS is a Civil Rights Issue" at Holman United Methodist Church, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, in Los Angeles. The events highlight the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on African-American and Latino communities in the US, and includes events in Mississippi, Texas, California and Louisiana. (Bret Hartman/AP Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation)

Experts say immigrants are changing the U.S. religious landscape

Non-Western Christian influences are causing U.S. churches to shift their roles from worship centers to community advocates, amid an unprecedented increase in the number of immigrants entering the country, a panel of religious experts said Wednesday.

February 26, 2014
Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl says the Catholic Church, under Pope Francis, is focusing on how to "Live the Gospel," especially in a world of extreme inequality. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Cardinal Donald Wuerl hits U.N. report on Catholic sex abuse scandal

NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, a longtime advocate for victims of pedophile priests, took aim this week at a recent U.N. commission report on the Catholic Church's child sex abuse scandal, saying it failed to recognize the progress the church has made in the past decade.

February 13, 2014
MP Kirsten Sandberg, chairwoman of the U.N. human rights committee on the rights of the child, talks during a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014. A U.N. human rights committee denounced the Vatican on Wednesday for adopting policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, and urged it to open its files on the pedophiles and the churchmen who concealed their crimes. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Catholics outraged over U.N. report on sex abuse

Conservative Catholic groups expressed outrage Wednesday over a U.N. panel's scathing report on the Vatican's sex abuse scandal, saying the oversight group overstepped its authority by calling for the Catholic Church to change some of its fundamental laws on homosexuality, birth control and abortion.

February 5, 2014

Japanese man wins landmark lawsuit on religious oppression

A Japanese man who had been kidnapped by family members and subjected to violent attempts to renounce his religion has won a court ruling against his captors, an outcome religious freedom advocates applaud while saying more needs to done to stop religious oppression in Japan.

January 31, 2014
Cpl. Simran Preet Singh Lamba is the first enlisted soldier to be granted a religious accommodation for his Sikh articles of faith since 1984. (Associated Press)

Pentagon rules under scrutiny by religious rights proponents

Religious rights advocates are scrutinizing a Pentagon directive that allows service members not only to wear beards and turbans as expressions of their faith, but also gives chaplains the right to refuse practices that violate their beliefs, such as performing same-sex marriages.

January 30, 2014