ELIZABETH ASKS: Isn’t it possible for the Pope to be Jewish? And if the Catholic Church someday elected a Jewish pope would that most likely help or harm Catholic-Jewish relations? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: Timely topic one year after the breakthrough election of the first Western Hemisphere pope, Francis of Argentina, who succeeded the first two non-Italian popes in centuries. The questioner notes a bit by Jay Leno, late of “The Tonight Show,” who told passersby the new pope was... Read more

KENNETH ASKS: With new research questioning the Bible’s report that domesticated camels existed as early as Genesis, the efforts to knock this down appear defensive rather than empirical. But Rebekah was certainly watering something. Thoughts? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: Some breathless online news headlines from recent weeks: “Camel Bones Suggest Error in Bible” (Fox News) “Camels Don’t Belong in Old Testament” (Forbes magazine) “Camels Had No Business in Genesis” (New York Times) “The Mystery of the Bible’s Phantom Camels” (Time... Read more

TERRY ASKS: Whatever happened to the Lenten disciplines that used to be part of Advent – Nativity? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: As Christendom nears the annual season of Lent, this refers to the Orthodox Church’s little-known practice of not just one but four seasons each year of Lenten-type fasting. “Great Lent” leading up to Easter is familiar. But traditionally, Orthodoxy also observes a Nativity Fast from mid-November (or later) through Christmas Eve, and two other seasons of abstinence from specified food and... Read more

GENE ASKS: What one factor more than any other would draw more people into the church? THE GUY ANSWERS: In the previous Religion Q and A, Gene asked  “what one factor accounts for the indifference so many Americans harbor toward the church?” The Guy nominated “fading cultural respect,” scanned what observers think about causes, and covered mostly hard church trends, not soft “spiritual but not religious” sentiments. (A timely aside on religious identity: To coincide with the winter Olympics, Pew... Read more

GENE ASKS: What one factor accounts for the indifference so many Americans harbor toward the church? THE GUY ANSWERS: Forced to pick  just “one factor” among many, The Guy says fading cultural respect — for committed Christians, for Christian churches, and for Christianity. Begin with some hard data. As Religion Q and A analyzed last October 19, the collective membership of America’s moderate to liberal “Mainline” Protestant denominations has gradually fallen by a third since the mid-1960s, an unprecedented slide. These... Read more

PARK ASKS: What are the major scriptural passages [and interpretations] relative to a complementarian and egalitarian approach to gender roles in the church? THE GUY ANSWERS: A big one. First, about that lingo: “Egalitarians” say the Bible teaches across-the-board equality without regard to gender. Period. This supposedly “liberal” view is held by many “conservatives.” “Complementarians” (that’s “complement,” not “compliment”) say the Bible establishes different roles for men and women in the church and, most add, in the home. For instance,... Read more

THIS QUESTION doesn’t come from a “Religion Q and A” reader but a headline in The Record, the daily newspaper in the New Jersey county that’s hosting a certain athletic event: “Does God care who wins the Super Bowl?” THE GUY (who lives in that county) ANSWERS: You gotta be kidding. Spiritual suffering, physical and mental illness, anxiety and loneliness, natural disasters, oppression, wars, terrorism, kidnapping, senseless murders, broken families, kids without dads, homelessness, addiction, materialism, privation, pestilence, prejudice, impossible decisions that... Read more

GRETCHEN ASKS: (Paraphrasing) She attended a fund-raising event for an unnamed organization where a slide show began by saying that “on the 8th day God created” this group and then presented its purposes. She found that “arrogant and self-serving” and it “bothered me beyond belief. Am I being overly sensitive?” THE GUY ANSWERS: In The Guy’s eyes, yes, you are. Still, religious offenses are in the eye of the beholder and fund-raising is well worth some examination. The late Henri Nouwen... Read more

MICHELLE ASKS: What is faith? THE GUY ANSWERS: This is the simplest yet perhaps most difficult question in the brief history of “Religion Q and A.” Not the sort of thing journalists usually write about, but The Guy can at least report on what some thinkers have said about this. Start with Merriam-Webster definitions: 1) “strong belief or trust in someone or something.” 2) “belief in the existence of God: strong religious feelings or beliefs.” 3) “a system of religious beliefs.” ... Read more

DUANE ASKS: Are there different versions of the Quran or just different interpretations of the one version? THE GUY ANSWERS: Since early in the history of Islam, only one Quran text in the original Arabic language has been fully authorized. However, as with most religious matters, the story is complicated. The religion teaches that the Quran existed eternally in heaven before angels gradually revealed the words little by little to the Prophet Muhammad between the year 620 C.E. (“Common Era”) and his... Read more