Alternative Faiths
Chelsea Wolfe says witchcraft and sobriety informed her latest album
By Krysta Fauria — February 7, 2024
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Witchcraft’s influence has meant an increased attentiveness to letting each record “be what it wants to be,” the singer, songwriter and musician says.
After 1,000 years, a new temple to the Norse gods rises in Iceland
By Avi Kumar — February 6, 2024
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (RNS) — Dedicated to the whole pantheon of Norse gods and nature spirits, the temple will serve followers of the second-largest faith in the country.
Who was St. Brigid and why is she inspiring many 1,500 years after her death?
By Peter Smith — January 29, 2024
The commemorations come a year after Ireland began honoring her with an annual public holiday — the first Irish woman to be recognized with one.
How the word ‘voodoo’ became a racial slur
By Danielle N. Boaz — January 24, 2024
(The Conversation) — Shows, movies and day-to-day language promote myths about voodoo that reinforce more than a century of stereotypes and discrimination, writes a scholar of Africana studies.
After 20 years, Terry Mattingly bids farewell to GetReligion
By Bob Smietana — January 17, 2024
(RNS) — Religion reporting still matters, Mattingly says, but the internet’s ‘preaching to the choir’ algorithms have won out.
First meeting of After School Satan Club at Tennessee elementary school draws protesters
By Associated Press — January 12, 2024
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The launch of the club Wednesday drew dozens to protest outside the school, WMC-TV reported.
The key to keeping those New Year’s resolutions? Make it about somebody else.
By Yonat Shimron — January 4, 2024
(RNS) — Experts say a core spiritual practice — even if it's only a few minutes a day — and a commitment to working with others are key to keeping resolutions.
Rabbi David Wolpe’s pagans aren’t the ones I know
By Nathan M. Hall — January 2, 2024
(RNS) — The distinguished rabbi characterizes a broad collection of small faiths as idolators of nature or money.
Faith leaders, influencers who died in 2023: Preachers, protesters, writers, singers
By Adelle M. Banks — December 26, 2023
(RNS) — We also bid farewell to some celebrities and influencers whose time on stages sometimes represented public faith or whose lives were strengthened by their personal faith.
Church for ‘nones’: Meet the anti-dogma spiritual collectives emerging across the US
By Kathryn Post — December 20, 2023
ATLANTA (RNS) — These spiritual communities discard doctrine, prefer questions over answers and have no intention of converting anybody to anything.
A volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island is sacred to spiritual practitioners and treasured by astronomers
By Audrey Mcavoy and Deepa Bharath — December 13, 2023
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii (AP) — Mauna Kea is a dormant 14,000-foot shield volcano. In Native Hawaiian lore, it is the first-born son of the sky father and earth mother.
Yule – a celebration of the return of light and warmth
By Helen A. Berger — December 8, 2023
(The Conversation) — Yule, celebrated by Wiccans and many other Pagans in the Northern Hemisphere on Dec. 21, the day of the winter solstice, is a time for reflection.
Study: Most Americans are spiritual but a growing number say they are not religious
By Yonat Shimron — December 7, 2023
(RNS) — Among the spiritual but not religious, 38% say religion does more harm than good, while just 7% of religious Americans share this view.
In Mexico, a Japanese traditional dancer shows how body movement speaks beyond culture and religion
By MarÍa Teresa HernÁndez Reyes — December 4, 2023
MEXICO CITY (AP) — For Latin American audiences, Kihara said, Japanese traditional dance might be hard to embrace.
Pilgrims yearn to visit isolated peninsula where Catholic saints cared for Hawaii’s leprosy patients
By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher — December 4, 2023
KALAUPAPA, Hawaii (AP) — The pilgrimage to Kalaupapa is logistically challenging to make under normal circumstances. It is even more so today because of lingering COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
