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Articles on Religion and society

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Shiite Muslims attend a mourning ritual during the Islamic month of Muharram, in the central shrine city of Karbala. Photo by Mohammed SAWAF / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images

The largest contemporary Muslim pilgrimage isn’t the hajj to Mecca, it’s the Shiite pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq

Millions of Muslims travel to Karbala in Iraq for one of the largest annual pilgrimages. The pilgrimage has adapted and changed over its centuries-old history.
Marx, Madison or God? Who said it first…or at all? Bettmann/Corbis/ Lucas Schifres via Getty Images

‘From each according to ability; to each according to need’ – tracing the biblical roots of socialism’s enduring slogan

At the height of Reaganism, close to half of Americans believed a phrase popularized by Karl Marx actually derived from the US Constitution. It doesn’t, but scholars have traced it to the Bible.
Anti-mask protesters at a rally in Orem, Utah. AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Why masks are a religious issue

Are masks a religious matter, or is religion being used to suit people’s political agendas? A scholar of Christian conservatism and culture argues both can be true.
Plimoth Plantation, in Plymouth, Mass., is a living museum that’s a replica of the original settlement, which existed for 70 years. Wikimedia Commons

The complicated legacy of the Pilgrims is finally coming to light 400 years after they landed in Plymouth

Descendants from the Pilgrims were keen to highlight their ancestors’ role in the country’s founding. But their sanitized version of events is only now starting to be told in full.
Israeli security forces clash with a Palestinian protesting the construction of Jewish settlements and a ‘separation wall,’ village of Ramallah, West Bank, Aug. 7, 2020. Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Israel suspends formal annexation of the West Bank, but its controversial settlements continue

An expert of the Israel-Palestine conflict explains the history of Jewish settlements on the West Bank, and why they are so controversial.
Incubus, a male demon, was said to prey on sleeping women in mythological tales. Walker, Charles: The encyclopedia of secret knowledge

The belief that demons have sex with humans runs deep in Christian and Jewish traditions

Stella Immanuel, who made headlines recently regarding a false coronavirus cure claim, has many beliefs related to how demons are a threat to humans. An expert explains their long religious history.
Some church members have no problem wearing masks; others say it’s an unconstitutional mandate. Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images

Freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from mask mandates

A Florida minister and a conservative lawmaker filed suit against a county law mandating mask wearing, saying it violates the freedom of religion. A constitutional law professor says they’re wrong.
Zapotec farmers return from their ‘milpa,’ the garden plots that provide much of the communities’ food, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Jeffrey H. Cohen

Indigenous Mexicans turn inward to survive COVID-19, barricading villages and growing their own food

The Zapotec people of southern Mexico have always relied on each other to solve problems when the government can’t, or won’t, help. That’s proving to be a pretty effective pandemic response.

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