In his Atlantic article on “What ISIS Really Wants” last March, Graeme Wood insisted that “the Islamic state is Islamic. Very Islamic.” Wood’s detractors have been similarly emphatic, arguing that ISIS is a perversion of the Islamic faith. For Wood’s critics, secular politics, far more than religion or religious ideology, is the key to understanding Read more
In the wake of the Orlando killings, a Florida bishop has lamented the role religion has played in breeding contempt for the LBGT community. Bishop Robert Lynch of St Petersburg wrote on his blog in reaction to the killings of at least 49 people and injuring of 53 more by gunman Omar Marteen in an Read more
Religion can do a great job helping believers discern right from wrong. Religion can help believers relate kindly and justly to other people. And religion can stiffen the will of believers when they face unjust suffering for their faith. I was taught these things when I studied Christian ethics, and they continue to motivate me in my work Read more
For some filmgoers, hearing a movie described as “faith-based” makes it a must-see. But just as many others find the term a turn-off. To reach audiences beyond the Christian churchgoers that generally propel the genre, some producers of faith-based films are ramping up the star power and tamping down the evangelical messages. The latest example Read more
The coronation of the next monarch of the United Kingdom needs to reflect pluralist modern Britain, a new report states. The Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life has also called for the number of Church of England bishops in the House of Lords to be reduced. The report, titled “Living with Difference”, Read more
German police have called for refugees to be housed along religious and ethnic lines after a series of mass brawls in emergency accommodation. Last week, a fight between up to 200 Syrians and Afghans in a Leipzig shelter turned into a running battle with residents using table legs as clubs. In Lower Saxony, police reported Read more
Australian nurse Nelley Youssef is immersed in a sea of millions of white-robed pilgrims doing the tawaf of the Kaaba, the black cuboid structure at the heart of Masjid Al-Haram mosque in Mecca, Saudia Arabia. She takes tiny, shuffling steps as she completes seven anti-clockwise laps that form one of many rituals she completes as Read more
The new Māori authority that looks after Auckland’s volcanic cones is working with church leaders and a local board about the future of a cross on the summit of Puketāpapa-Mount Roskill. The cross has been removed leaving a stark pole. The cross has traditionally been erected and illuminated on the summit of Puketapapa-Mt Roskill for short Read more
You are Jewish; your husband, a lapsed Catholic. Neither of you believes, much, in God, although occasionally you like to meditate and you both would go hiking more if you could. You’ve had those moments — who hasn’t? — on mountaintops or in art museums or even in prayer when you’ve felt that overwhelming sense Read more