The region of Maui has been revered by its Indigenous peoples as a sacred place for generations. It is believed to be the home of Kihawahine, a woman who transformed into a goddess.
Protesters in Utah demonstrate against a school district’s ban on the Bible for having ‘vulgarity and violence’ unfit for young children.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Distinct from civil disobedience, this legal strategy demands complete compliance with the law – even when there are loopholes that the laws’ creators didn’t intend.
The exhibit “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures” at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 2023.
Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images
More invasive devices have prompted new debates about privacy and freedom. But it’s important to keep in mind that other technologies already sense and shape our thoughts, a neuroethicist argues.
A Shaligram on top of a bed of small rocks.
Holly Walters
Many Hindus, Buddhists and people who follow the shamanic religion of Bon undertake a pilgrimage each year to northern Nepal to look for Shaligrams, believed to be a manifestation of Lord Vishnu.
A relief depicting a row of captives, carved into the Sun Temple at Abu Simbel in Egypt.
Richard Maschmeyer/ Design Pics via Getty Images
There was no one type of slavery in ‘biblical’ or ‘ancient’ societies, given how varied they were. But much of what historians know about slavery during those eras is horrific.
On AI Jesus’ Twitch channel, chatbot Jesus answers questions on personal and spiritual matters.
Twitch user ask_jesus
Complex as they are, Oppenheimer’s life and views of the bomb are far easier to wrestle with than the reality of nuclear power itself.
Mount Sinai is mentioned in the second book of the Bible, Exodus, as the site where Moses received his first instruction from God.
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A scholar of the Hebrew Bible argues that very little is known about the location of Mount Sinai, and it is likely that it was once part of a foundational legend.
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor performs at Paradiso in Amsterdam in March 1988.
Paul Bergen/Redferns via Getty Images
A professor of modern Catholicism looks back at the ways the iconic Irish singer steeped herself in religion, even as she criticized its institutions.
Who did the honors: clergy, a justice of the peace or just a friend? More and more weddings are performed by someone ordained online.
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Practitioners of Pagan religions no longer need to go into a forest to find an object for their altars. Commercialization means that sacred objects are available online.
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.
Panic over supposed ‘super-predator’ teens ended years ago, but its consequences did not.
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Research on developing brains has helped bring about a sea change in attitudes toward juvenile life without parole. But many people who committed crimes as minors are still serving such sentences.
Lucien Greaves, spokesman for the Satanic Temple, which has pushed to establish after-school clubs.
Josh Reynolds for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The controversial – and often misunderstood – extracurricular groups tend to raise controversy. But under equal access laws, schools can’t discriminate against a club based on its point of view.
Rastafarians drum and sing during a special prayer and worship meeting at Menengai forest in Kenya.
James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The first Rastafarian communities emerged around 1931 in eastern Jamaica. Today, there are over 700,000 Rastafarian communities located on almost every continent.
The Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, N.Y., where on July 19 and 20, 1848, the first women’s rights conventions in the U.S. were held.
Epics/Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Most of the convention’s core organizers were Quakers. The religious movement’s beliefs about men and women’s equality before God has shaped members’ activism for centuries.
Widespread skepticism toward COVID-19 vaccines took some scientists by surprise.
Eric Lee/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Specific beliefs may have more to do with people’s vaccine views than their religious affiliation – but it depends on which vaccine you’re talking about.
Technicians working to destroy the United States’ chemical weapons stockpile at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot on June 8, 2023, in Pueblo, Colo.
AAP Photo/David Zalubowski
A scholar of religion who is writing a book on sacred drugs explains how today’s ‘psychedelic renaissance’ reflects a millennia-long history of using intoxicants to seek insight and connection.
A few days after successful fertilization, an embryo becomes a rapidly dividing ball of cells called a blastocyst.
Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Scientists can create viable eggs from two male mice. In the wake of CRISPR controversies and restrictive abortion laws, two experts start a dialogue on ethical research in reproductive biology.
A golden sculpture of the angel Moroni atop the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rexburg, Idaho.
Natalie Behring/Getty Images
The faith’s association with conservative politics has stayed strong for decades, but could become a liability, a political scientist argues.
An image of one of the gifts that Prime Minister Modi gave to President Biden – the ‘10 danas,’ or 10 donations – each with a specific symbolism.
Newsroom Post Press Release
One of the gifts that Prime Minister Modi gave to President Biden symbolizes the recipient’s having seen 1,000 full moons, implying a long and auspicious life.