In a fraught and complex situation the Catholic Church sought to mediate the conflict where it could, but drew much ire and criticism for not doing enough.
Public Christmas trees, like Rockefeller Center’s famous tree, didn’t start appearing in the U.S. until the 20th century.
Nicholas Hunt/WireImage via Getty Images
Evergreens have long served as symbols of life during the bleakness of winter. But Queen Victoria spurred the tradition that has become a global phenomenon.
Many people are using Bible verses to justify their stance against vaccines.
David McNew/AFP via Getty Images
Joe Biden and Mike Pence both wrote op-eds in a Christian paper. How their use of Christianity, history and politics differ.
Social distancing has changed the way people worship. A pastor at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Los Angeles holds a service through his iPhone.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Churches have moved online. But to be able to properly connect with people, they need to find a way to build community, says a scholar who studies digital religion.
A Bible class at a public high school in Georgia,
AP Photo/David Goldman
At least six states have permitted the study of the Bible in classrooms, which could reignite a 19th-century debate that split US Protestants into liberal and conservative camps.
Purity culture promotes sexual abstinence before marriage.
charlene trapp/Flickr
Evangelicals who were taught as children that Christians abstain from sex until marriage are coming out and revealing the dark side of the so-called ‘purity movement.’
Vice President Mike Pence joins military officers and a chaplain on Aug. 23, 2019 in a prayer for two Army men who died during operations in Afghanistan.
AP Photo/Cliff Owen
When the US entered World War I in 1917, military chaplains catered to majority white and Christian soldiers. Today the armed forces recognize over 200 denominations and religious groups.
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg leads supporters on a march to the Democratic Party’s Liberty and Justice Celebration event in Des Moines, Iowa on Nov. 1, 2019.
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
Pete Buttigieg has said that Christianity teaches ‘skepticism of the wealthy and the powerful and the established.’ These ideals are similar to those espoused by a Midwestern Social Gospel movement.
Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch humanist and theologian.
Quentin Matsys
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.
Boston in the 19th century.
Robert Havell/Wikipedia
Many practicing U.S. Christians do not believe that human activities are warming the Earth, but they hold diverse views about the environment. Effective climate conversations recognize those nuances.
Suicide bombers struck Sri Lanka’s churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, killing and injuring hundreds of people. Seven percent of Sri Lanka’s population is Christian – most of them Roman Catholics.
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.
A Bible class at a Georgia high school in 2011.
AP Photo/David Goldman
Lisa Bitel, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Behind today’s mythical Santa Claus from the North Pole, is a real saint – St. Nicholas. How he came to be today’s gift-giving jolly figure from the North Pole is a fascinating story by itself.
What might have motivated the young missionary killed on a remote island in India?
AP Photo/Sarah Prince
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.