Members of the Church of England’s Synod, at Church House in central London, on Feb. 9, 2023.
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With over 80 million believers in 160 countries, the Anglican Communion has been grappling with LGBTQ+ issues since the 1970s.
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Rihanna’s cover for the Spring 2024 edition has come under fire for being sacrilegious and distasteful – but it’s devilishly divine at exposing the misogyny and hypocrisy of organised religion
A group of witches offering wax effigies to the Devil in a 17th-century woodcut.
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Only five witches were executed in Wales, while thousands were sentenced to death in Scotland and England.
Debates over LGBTQ+ issues have divided Methodist congregations for years leading up to the current schism.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File
The United Methodist Church will hold its General Conference, delayed several years by the pandemic, in April 2024. The meeting comes amid a dramatic divide over LGBTQ+ rights.
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You’d be surprised by how many of your favourite hits are about God or Jesus in one way or another.
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Like a lot of things that happen at this time of year, the Stations of the Cross is a ritual – and an important one to many.
The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.
British Museum
Each Easter we see many images of Jesus on the cross – inevitably wearing a loincloth. But the historical evidence shows victims of crucifixion were fully naked to maximise shame as well as pain.
(L-R) The Rockox Triptych by Rubens (1613–1615), Christ as the Man of Sorrows by Maerten Jacobsz van Heemskerck and The Last Judgement by Michelangelo (1541).
Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp/Sistine Chapel
The Bible is full of strong men and pumped prophets.
A mosaic of the Resurrection in the Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa, Lebanon.
FredSeiller/Wikimedia Commons
Ideas about resurrection had been developing for centuries before Jesus’ life, but his followers took them in new directions.
The crucifixion of Christ inside Chester Cathedral.
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The ancient tenebrae tradition brings churchgoers face to face with the darkest moments of the Christian story.
Bestsellers ‘The Shack’ and the ‘Left Behind’ series are both Christian evangelical novels, but reveal different preoccupations.
(Windblown Media/Tyndale House Publishers)
The ‘Left Behind’ series emphasizes themes of authority, loyalty and sanctity, but they are preferences for order, not moral matters.
Christian Palestinian tattoo artist Walid Ayash draws a tattoo on the arm of a Coptic Egyptian pilgrim on April 28, 2016, at his studio in Bethlehem.
Thomas Coex /AFP via Getty Images
Historically, many Christians got tattoos around Holy Week − usually a cross − to honor Christ’s martyrdom.
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Pope Gregory XIII was patron of Rome’s renaissance, and a legal luminary whose influence transcends the ages.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is Hindu, attends the Finchley United Synagogue in London in October 2023.
PA Images / Alamy
The language the UK government uses on faith-related subjects matters. It models – for everyone living in the UK – how to best engage with diverse manifestations of belief.
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Lenten traditions emphasise fasting, prayer and charitable giving. This aligns with tarrying as central to communal spiritual life.
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.
Snow covers the replica of the Statue of Liberty outside the Decatur County Courthouse in Leon, Iowa.
Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Immigration may be concentrated on America’s coasts, but newcomers are putting down roots in Midwestern communities as well.
A live broadcast of a Pentecostal church in Nigeria.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
Pentecostalism is one of the fastest-growing strands of Christianity in Africa.
Mosaic depicting female saints, including Perpetua (second right) and Felicitas, in Ravenna, Italy.
Nick Thompson/Cult of the Saints
Perpetua was still breastfeeding her baby son when she was thrown in jail by Roman authorities. A Latin text movingly describes her suffering.
The 19th-century starry ceiling of Carlisle Cathedral, last painted in 1970.
Nina Alizada|Shutterstock
Religious heritage in the UK faces a funding crisis. Both the buildings and those who worship in them need to be considered.