Energy Secretary Rick Perry speaks during an event about the environment at the White House on July 8, 2019, as President Trump looks on.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
A Christian movement led by independent religious entrepreneurs, often referred to as ‘apostles,’ is changing the religious landscape of the US.
William Blake’s portrait of the Old Testament Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, who in the Book of Daniel ‘was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen’.
Tate Britain
Martin Luther is credited with initiating the split in Christianity that came to be called the Protestant Reformation. But don’t count out Erasmus, an early proponent of similarly radical ideas.
South African Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane listens to public complaints in Cape Town.
EPA-EFE
Scripture strongly and unequivocally affirms the obligation to treat strangers with dignity and hospitality, says a Christian scholar who turns to the Bible for guidance on Trump’s immigration policy.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks.
National Gallery London
In the Bible, heaven is where God resides, rather than a place of eternal life. But over time it has become conflated with ideas of paradise and eternal salvation.
Hell is a complicated idea- and most Christians do not believe it has anything to do with fire and brimstone.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
“Hell” in the Bible is a highly symbolic idea designed to persuade people to stay faithful to their God, not to set out a precise agenda for the afterlife.
A Good Friday procession in Riverdale, Maryland.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
On Good Friday, Christians give thanks for their salvation, which they believe was made possible by the suffering of Jesus. But for Jews, it was common in the Middle Ages to be attacked with stones.
Southern Baptist Convention messengers hold signs during a rally protesting the convention’s treatment of women in 2018.
AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter
Recent media reports point to years of sexual abuse by Southern Baptist pastors. An expert writes why a long culture of women’s submission is responsible for this crisis.
The connection between the gardens of Versailles, and your backyard garden, are closer than you might think.
Shutterstock
In their zeal to evangelize the world, at the end of 19th century, young families were sent overseas with little to no training in anything beyond the Bible and no promise of funding.
The Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Museum of the Bible
The highly controversial Bible Museum in Washington, D.C., has just announced the withdrawal of five manuscripts deemed counterfeit. Where did these fragments come from and how did they get there?
A conservator works with a portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls containing Psalm 145 at The Franklin Institute, in Philadelphia.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
The real lessons of Jesus Christ as outlined in the Bible are socialist. But the Church, a veritable old boys club, doesn’t teach us that.
For some, this recent decision is a source of celebration and perhaps even symbolic, finally, of full equality in the church for gay and lesbian members.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
The Uniting Church has been grappling with questions of faith and sexuality for decades - and its openness has led to relatively smooth changes to doctrine and practice.
New priests being ordained during a ceremony led by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, when they take vows, including to remain celibate.
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
Early Christians were open to marriage for priests. It wasn’t until the 12th century that celibacy became mandatory in the Catholic Church.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a mass in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia, on Jan. 7, 2018.
Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
During the Cold War, American evangelicals smuggled Bibles and other Christian literature to the Soviet Union and other communist countries. They still see Russia as a partner on evangelical values.