Christianity plays a relatively minor role in Australian politics. Instead, it takes the guise of a general cultural conservatism, as demonstrated by the same-sex marriage and school funding debates.
As Italy confirms its ban on Sikhs carrying holy daggers, should the judiciary be deciding what our societies look like or what defines our cultural values?
The best sort of life would include both happiness and meaningfulness. Although one sometimes has to choose between these two values, one ought to strive for a life in which there’s plenty of both.
What does God have to do with climate change? A lot, if you want to engage with communities in the Pacific Islands, where almost everyone goes to church and religious leaders are hugely influential.
Pakistani students hold portraits of Mashal Khan who was killed by a mob for alleged blasphemy in in April 2017.
Rehan Khan/EPA
Much of the non-Muslim world appears dismissive of the value Islam can have in Muslim women’s lives, but Islam is a crucial tool in the work of gender justice.
In India, a series of vicious attacks by ‘cow vigilantes’ signals that Hindu extremism is on the rise.
Neil Gorsuch signs the constitutional oath after Chief Justice Roberts administered it in a private ceremony on April 10.
Franz Jantzen/Public Information Office Supreme Court of the U.S. via AP
In the early 19th century Catholics were persecuted for refusing to participate in Protestant Bible reading in schools. In many schools, those opting out of Bible classes are harassed, even today.
Passion, Lament, Glory at Melbourne’s St. Paul’s Cathedral in 2017.
Sarah Walker
Each year at Easter, Christians recreate the spectacularly violent end of Jesus’s life, raising some tough questions about the depiction of suffering on stage.
Younger Australians seem particularly inclined to say they have ‘no religion’.
Shutterstock
The movie ‘The Case for Christ’ is released this weekend. A scholar takes a close look at the claims for the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection.
The Merkez mosque in the Kreuzberg neighbourhood of Berlin is run by Turkey’s Dinayet agency, like 900 other mosques in Germany.
Christian Mang/Reuters
The religious arm of Turkey’s government, Dinayet, has European authorities up in arms after leaked documents suggested the agency was engaged in international espionage.
Yggdrasil, the tree that supports the world in Norse myth, can be found in America in Neil Gaiman’s mash-up of world religion.
Starz
Twenty years ago, the paranoia that consumed cults like Heaven’s Gate existed on the margins of American society. Now it’s moved toward the center of the nation’s political life.
Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity