The number of women religious leaders is growing, but the 2018-2019 National Congregations Study, which surveyed 5,300 U.S. religious communities, found that only 56.4% of these communities would allow a woman to “be head clergy person or primary religious leader.”
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Three female academics discuss how women are forging new pathways in faith leadership throughout religions that traditionally have been patriarchal.
Organizations can apply to have their flag temporarily replace the Boston city flag, shown on far right, in front of City Hall.
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Beth Saunders, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Alternative beliefs like spiritualism seem to experience resurgences in times of crisis. Taggart has spent the past 20 years exploring the oft-misunderstood religion.
A table set for the celebration of the Persian festival of Yalda.
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People stay up all night, telling stories and eating dried fruits, in addition to watermelon and pomegranate, to celebrate the sunrise soon after the longest night of the year.
Lots of families wrestle with how – and whether – to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas.
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Figuring out whether to celebrate holidays, and how, is tricky for lots of interfaith families – but thoughtful communication makes a difference.
Opportunities are expanding for Orthodox Jewish women to formally study Jewish texts. This event in Jerusalem celebrated women who completed the 7 ½-year cycle of daily study of the Talmud.
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LDS leaders still stress that men should ‘preside’ over their families. But in recent years, messages about marriage have stressed more equal partnership.
A group of protesters stands inside the Utah State Capitol in 2016, criticizing a proposal to make polygamy a felony again.
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A scholar of gender and US religious history explains how women are trying to make religious communities more inclusive. Women’s ordination is only one piece of this ongoing work.
Sister Megan Rice answers questions from members of a church group at a home in Maryville, Tennessee, in 2013.
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A Catholic historian writes about nuns who protested against nuclear weapons. Even when convicted of sabotage, they used prison time to serve fellow inmates and push for justice.
The lighting of the National Menorah in Washington, D.C. in 2012.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
The Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which in 2022 begins on the evening of Dec. 18, focuses on the story of the male Maccabees. But women are also heroes in histories from that era, including Judith and Hannah.
People wait at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa on Nov. 26, 2021, as many nations moved to stop air travel from the country.
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Zakat, or charity, is a fundamental practice within the Islamic faith.
French officer Alfred Dreyfus spent five years as a prisoner on Devil’s Island, off the coast of South America.
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