March 7, 2024

Seeing the light − at the movies. igoriss/iStock via Getty Images By David W. Stowe of Michigan State University In some movies, religion hits viewers over the head – including films that take home the industry’s biggest prizes. No one could miss religion’s importance in “The Exorcist” or “Jesus Christ Superstar,” both nominated for Oscars 50 years ago. Martin Scorsese, whose “Killers of the Flower Moon” is up for 10 at the 2024 Academy Awards, is working on a new... Read more

March 2, 2024

Religious beliefs can provide motivation, hope and endurance in the long and often discouraging task of mobilizing people for social change. Read more

February 12, 2024

Looking for love − a store in Huaian, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, selling flowers on Valentine’s Day. STR/AFP via Getty Images By Megan Bryson of University of Tennessee In China, people celebrate Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14, but there are at least three holidays and cultural traditions centered on romantic love. A figure that ties together these other holidays is the Old Man Under the Moon – Yuexia Laoren in Mandarin, or Yuelao for short – who is believed... Read more

January 22, 2024

Conversion was often a violent affair, but that doesn’t mean it was 100% successful. Colonial Latin America was home to many different spiritual traditions from Indigenous, African and Asian cultures. Read more

January 10, 2024

Surrogacy can exploit women, but others may choose to be involved for altruistic reasons. A scholar points out that surrogacy’s ethical value is dependent upon the people and systems who use it. Read more

January 5, 2024

The 2024 elections may see a more intense end-times rhetoric, claims of divine support and a failure to condemn the rise in Christian nationalism, writes a religion scholar. Read more

January 3, 2024

Most of the Klan’s victims were African American, but many other groups have been targeted during the hate group’s century and a half of history. Read more

December 13, 2023

A scholar of American evangelicalism explains House Speaker Mike Johnson’s connections with Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum. Read more

December 6, 2023

Assimilation no doubt played a role in making Hanukkah the commercialized holiday it is today. But other factors shaped the modern festival, too, a scholar of Jewish studies and gender explains. Read more

November 28, 2023

Like all charitable donors, church members – even those who make donations to remain in good standing with their religious institution – give up their legal right to control that money. Read more

Follow Us!



Browse Our Archives