Here, Canadian poet and musician, Leonard Cohen, reads part of the Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1994. The Tibetan Book of the Dead,  according to the Buddhist scholar, Robert Thurman,“organizes the experiences of the between—(Tibetan, bar-do) usually referring to the state between death and rebirth.” Open Culture has a great review of  Cohen’s 1994 two part documentary that explores Tibetan teachings about death and dying. Here’s a link to the second part of the two part documentary called “The... Read more

According to Pew Research for Religion and Public Life a majority of evangelical leaders in the global south  are optimistic about the prospect of evangelicalism while leaders int he north are not so optimistic. What is evangelical Christianity?  The chart below from the Pew Research center shows what evangelical leaders in the north and south believe.  The national Association fo Evangelicals also has a good review of the basic beliefs. Read more

The BBC video above and  the Pew chart below show you which areas of the world have the most government restrictions toward religion and which societies have the most social restrictions. This all comes from a study form the Pew Center for Religion and Public Life. The study shows and  the video highlights the fact that hostility toward religion is at a six-year high. That hostility happens the most in Egypt and China. In other countries, society itself is hostile to certain... Read more

Does religious freedom mean that Muslims can segregate men and women at a Muslim public meeting on a university campus? A British University said yes, Muslims could seat men and women separately.  But they back tracked when the public cried foul, drawing the British prime minister into the debate. No Labor government, he said, would “allow or tolerate segregation in our universities.” Kenan Malik, in an interesting article for the New York Times, argues that the issue is not about... Read more

American Muslim mosques often do not accord women with equality to men. In some mosques, Muslim women must enter through the side door, not the main entrance. But, according to this interesting NPR story, some Muslim women are beginning to agitate for change. Hind Makki, a Chicago Muslim woman, for example, shares photos of  entrances to mosques and women’s prayer spaces on an online Tumblr site called Side Entrance. NPR based some of their story on a study sponsored by the... Read more

If you are studying Hindu art and architecture, Hindu temples are a good place for students to start. The Huffinton Post has a great slide show of  “30 awesome Hindu Temples.”  Religion Facts and a site called Indotemple.com both have good background. Hindu temples reflect both the time period in which they were built and the location.  The Brihadeeswarar Temple above, located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva.  It is a UNESCO... Read more

New research shows that meditation causes physiological change in the brain. Previous research relied on changes in blood pressure or even a participant questionnaire. This government funded study looked at the effects of meditation on stress and discovered a real biological change. This is probably old news to most Buddhists who have been practicing meditation for a long time. Two years ago The New York Times reported that M.R.I. brain scans showed “increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area... Read more

Did you know that comedy has always played an important part of Jewish culture? In this great clip  from Religion and Ethics Weekly,  we learn from  comedian Tim Kazurinsky  that it’s a defensive armor.  He says that tragedy plus time equals comedy. And Ruth Wise says that it’s comedy of fear or tears, all because of being God’s anointed and having to suffer so much. Read more

Do you know which Jewish holiday is known as the New Year for Trees? It’s called Tu B’Shevat and occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month Shevat.  Tu is the number 15 and Shevat is the 11th month in the Hebrew calendar, which is January/February, according to Judaism 101. The holiday is more popular today because of it’s connection to the environment as the video above from PBS Religion & Ethics shows. In an article for the Jewish... Read more

How much do you know about religion?  The Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life has a short 15 question quiz. Your results are shown in interesting graphs, one which compares your answers to the percentage of people of different religious groups who answered each question correctly. Thanks to my colleague, Rob Kerr, for tweeting the link. Read more