The head of New Zealand's third-largest church has asked its ministers to consider a temporary ban on gay marriages to preserve the church's "peace and unity".

Brad Miller and Cassie Dean speak about their experience on being shunned from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Video / RNZ

Church historian and author Peter Lineham is joining us at midday for a chat on his new book Destiny: The Life and Times of a Self-Made Apostle.

Auckland mayoral candidate the Rev Uesifili UNasa may be looking for some divine intervention, having launched his campaign at church.

Professor Richard Dawkins has been forced to defend controversial comments he made online after saying the last time Muslims contributed something worthwhile was during the Middle Ages.

It's the shoes at the foot of Bishop Brian Tamaki's impressive all-black ensemble that catch the eye as his delegation sweeps up the library stairs at Massey University's North Shore campus.

A week or so back London officials banned the use of the phrase "in sickness and in health" in civil registry wedding vows as "too religious".

As more Kiwis describe themselves as having no religion, it's hardly surprising that the teaching of Christianity should rub against modern concepts of rights.

Sweating nervously from his bald head the American soldier gathered enough composure to deliver an extraordinary presentation.

Schools are going through the "hurtful" process of choosing to drop religious instruction, with boards of trustees working through passionate arguments from parents on both sides of the debate.

South Asian Muslims in Auckland report feeling secure, but some say they'd received "prejudicial treatment" in their dealings with police.

The Pope's shift in stance on homosexuality has been welcomed by activists in conservative Italy.

A survey shows one in three state primary and intermediate schools teaches religious instruction, triggering a debate about what kids are being taught.

A Muslim sect is taking its faith to the streets of Auckland this Ramadan month to counter "Kiwi ignorance" of Islam.

In just over a week, Muslim faithful around the world will be celebrating Eid ul-Fitr, the breaking of the fast to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

A wrong turn sent a humble Fiat carrying Pope Francis into the thick of a frenzied Rio crowd, in his first minutes back in South America since becoming Pontiff.

Religious hardliners have declared a jihad against the television talent shows that have taken Afghanistan by storm.

It is 8.30am in the favela in Rio de Janeiro that will receive Pope Francis on Friday, and men carrying weapons walk along what will be the Pontiff's path.

Paul Charman reckons Taniwha are scarier than Zombies.

Radical Buddhist nationalism is sweeping Burma, and at the forefront of the movement is a group more commonly associated with peace and tolerance: monks.

What, in your opinion, is the greatest misconception about God?

Being English, making a fuss is as painful to me as losing a kidney.

A missile knocked a leading Northern Irish politician unconscious as sectarian tensions escalated into rioting in Belfast at the climax of the Protestant marching season.

The colourful vicar of St Matthew-in-the-City, Glynn Cardy, is leaving his Anglican church to lead a Presbyterian church in Remuera.

As millions of Muslim pilgrims prepare to converge on holy sites in Saudi Arabia this [northern] autumn, the global health community is anxiously monitoring an outbreak of a respiratory virus known as Mers.

Wellington's new Anglican Dean was surprised the church would want to hire him, as he was a "dodgy Baptist" pastor with criminal convictions.

Contrary to the claims of your columnist Rodney Hide last weekend, the self-described anti-theist, I don't believe prayer to be hocus-pocus.