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Articles on Religion and society

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A 19th-century engraving depicts the Angel of Death descending on Rome during the Antonine plague. J.G. Levasseur/Wellcome Collection

How 3 prior pandemics triggered massive societal shifts

Societies and cultures that seem ossified and entrenched can be completely upended by pandemics, which create openings for conquest, innovation and social change.
Members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization, which began in Pennsylvania in 1967, holding a meeting in France. Photo by Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images

What is charismatic Catholicism?

The Catholic charismatic movement in the United States began during the 1960s. The practices of Catholic charismatics encompass various forms of Pentecostalism.
Sage burning as a spiritual cleansing ritual is common at Black Lives Matter protests. Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Far from being anti-religious, faith and spirituality run deep in Black Lives Matter

BLM has been accused of being ‘Godless’ and operating in a ‘demonic realm.’ But scholars of religion see a deep spirituality at work in the movement.
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.

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