The U.S. public expresses a clear consensus on the contentious question of whether employers who have religious objections to contraception should be required to provide it in health insurance plans for their employees. Fully two-thirds of American adults say such businesses should be required to cover birth control as part of their employees’ insurance plans, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, while just three-in-ten say businesses should be allowed to refuse to cover contraception for religious reasons.

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Israel lost its most honored senior statesman, the last active member of its founding generation, with the death today of Shimon Peres, the former ceremonial state president and ex-prime minister.

Source: Shimon Peres, Israel’s Liberal Elder Statesman, Dies at 93 - News – Forward.com

This Saturday, priceless religious relics from black history like Nat Turner’s Bible, Harriet Tubman’s hymnal and antique pews from AME churches across the country will be on view at the grand opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Source: Religion and Resistance at the New National Museum of African American History and Culture | Religion Dispatches

DUDLEY, Mass. — When Dr. Amjad Bahnassi, a psychiatrist who lives in the central Massachusetts city of Worcester, wants to visit his son’s grave, he braces for the drive to the Muslim burial ground in Enfield, Conn., about 60 miles away. It is the nearest cemetery devoted solely to Islamic burials — and, he said, it is filling up.

Source: Muslims Seek New Burial Ground, and a Small Town Balks - The New York Times