Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that government bodies could open their sessions with invocations, even if the majority of them are Christian. But the court also said that since these invocations are intended to solemnize the occasion, the prayers offered should not proselytize or disparage the beliefs of others.

A national Muslim group has gone to federal court to challenge a Virginia jail’s program that allows Christian inmates to live separately in a special unit dubbed a “God Pod.”

The U.S. Justice Department in October announced that it is undertaking an investigation into accusations of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania.