On Flag Day, a historian of religions in America explains how the Pledge of Allegiance, which honors the American flag, is part of American civil religion.
Rites of passage, such as graduation ceremonies, celebrate the transition to a new state.
JC Olivera/Getty Images
Rites of passage are important. They do not merely celebrate the transition to a new state – they actively create this new state in the eyes of society, an anthropologist writes.
A procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed by many Christians to be the site of the crucifixion and burial place of Jesus Christ.
AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner
A Christian Palestinian human rights scholar who grew up in Bethlehem writes about the special time of Easter, but also about the restrictions on Palestinian Christians.
Palestinians gather at the area where aid was distributed in Gaza City on Feb. 19, 2024.
Karam Hassan/Anadolu via Getty Images
Ramadan encourages acts of charity. This also poses a question for many Muslims as they consider what more could be done to feed the hungriest in the world, many of whom are in Gaza.
The Moon over a minaret of the grand Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan.
AP Photo/Anjum Naveed
Two scholars who study death rituals explain that the corpse is considered spiritually polluting in many religious traditions, while the Moon holds a sacred place.
American Muslim women on pilgrimage at the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina in 2023.
Iqbal Akhtar
A religion scholar argues that the communal nature of Islamic pilgrimage helps worshippers go through a physically demanding schedule and creates camaraderie that continues beyond the pilgrimage.
Many critique Disney adults as being victims of exploitation because Disney merchandise and trips to the parks come at a steep price.
(AP Photo/John Raoux)
Joyce Dalsheim, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Young Haredim men, who are strictly observant Jews, have long been exempted from Israel’s compulsory military service. A disagreement over stopped Netanyahu from forming a government.
Muslims praying in a Chicago mosque following the shooting in New Zealand, on Friday, March 15.
AP Photo/Noreen Nasir
Last Friday, Muslims were killed while praying at two mosques in New Zealand. For Muslims, Friday is the day of gathering, the most important prayer day of the week.
Emile Durkheim who taught at Sorbonne University is considered a founder of modern sociology.
Emile Durkheim helped to lay the foundations of sociological thought and theory. He spoke of our current condition as being influenced by social structures and institutions.
Nick Cave performing with The Bad Seeds in Budapest in June. His song lyrics, with those often melancholy, churchy organ chords, are dripping in references to what might be called sacredness.
Zoltan Balogh/EPA
The enquiry into sacredness is not over, it’s just beginning for the 21st century, and in wildly disparate modes and places. In music, Nick Cave, Hozier and Dr G. Yunupingu have led the way.
An intricate crop circle spans a diameter of more than 45 metres in a barley field close to Barbury Castle near Wroughton, England, about 130 kilometres west of London, in 2008. The circle is noteworthy for its complexity, representing the first 10 digits of the mathematical constant pi, or 3.141592654.
Lucy Pringle
Crop circles are global phenomena gaining attention as paranormal culture becomes mainstream, along with a hybrid approach that emulates scientific investigation.
Sister Frances Carr, left, and Brother Arnold Hadd of the Shaker Village sing during a rehearsal on Sept. 13, 1995.
AP Photo/Adam Nadel
Executive Director, Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, and Teaching Professor of Teaching Professor of Islam and Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame