The use of AI and robotic technology in worship is raising profound questions about its long-term consequences. Will it lead to the betterment of society or replace practitioners?
Speakers discussing the proposed ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s anti-discrimination laws at Seattle City Hall, on Feb. 21, 2023.
AP Photo/John Froschauer
Two social scientists explain how caste-identities are pervasive in not just Hinduism but other South Asian faith groups as well.
Palestinians look out from a damaged building next to scorched cars in the town of Hawara, near the West Bank city of Nablus, on Feb. 27, 2023.
AP Photo/Nasser Nasser
A scholar of Jewish history explains how the term ‘pogrom’ lives in Jewish collective memory and why its use can be highly contentious.
Frances Willard stands behind her mother, at left, and Anna B. Gordon, who worked as a secretary and lived in the Willard household.
Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
A historian highlights the role of Frances Willard, who helped found the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, one of the major social movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.
A service in the village church of St. Paul de Leon in Devon, England.
Hugh R Hastings/Getty Images
A media scholar who studied Carter and interviewed him explains how he attempted to translate Jesus’ teachings into action through his life of public service.
An empty church in Hiers-Brouage, France.
Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Secularization has fascinated sociologists for 200 years – but that doesn’t mean they always agree on what it is, or how much it’s happening.
A pride flag flies in front of the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City during a 2015 protest against church policy toward same-sex couples.
George Frey/Getty Images
The relationship between faith, politics and LGBTQ rights is more complicated than it can appear at first glance.
Ukrainian designer Margarita Chala stands next to shoes symbolizing war crimes committed against Ukrainian civilians at the Old Town Square in Prague in 2023.
Michal Cizek/AFP via Getty Images
Trauma can affect how people remember and describe experiences. Many survivors express their pain through objects and physical symptoms, an anthropologist explains.
White sage is being commonly used for purification rituals.
Stevica Mrdja / EyeEm via Getty Images
Employers navigating employees’ requests for religious accommodations face some confusing guidance. A new Supreme Court case could clarify – and shift the norm.
A view of the destruction in Antakya, Turkey, caused by the recent earthquake.
AP Photo/Hussein Malla
A historian of the late Roman world, who visited earthquake-devastated Antakya several times, writes about the city’s rich history and recovery after being devastated in the past.
In the Hindu tradition, the story of the divine love of Radha and Krishna features prominently.
Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images
On Valentine’s Day, a scholar of South Asian religions tells the story of the divine love of Radha and Krishna and the lessons in it for our world today.
Lucian of Samosata, a high-ranking Roman official.
Michael Nicholson/Corbis via Getty Images
Lucian’s work provides insight into the second-century Roman world, which fostered multilingualism and multiculturalism.
Figuring out what to do with the ‘Song of Songs’ has preoccupied people reading the Bible for centuries.
'Song of Songs' illustrated by Florence Kingsford/Southern Methodist University/Wikimedia Commons
The famous biblical book alludes to God only once. Historically, though, most interpreters have argued the poem’s about love between the divine and his people.
‘Cupid and Psyche’ by Italian sculptor Antonio Canova.
Bettmann via Getty Images
Ancient Greece and Rome may have handed down the image of rosy-cheeked Cupids, but their myths about him explore the messier – sometimes scarier – sides of love.
Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests celebrating Sunday Mass in Lviv, in western Ukraine.
AP Photo/Bernat Armangue
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has a history going back to the 16th century, when some Orthodox bishops and their followers agreed to become Catholic.