More Faiths
Every week is World Interfaith Harmony Week for devotees of Swami Vivekananda
By Richa Karmarkar — February 7, 2024
(RNS) — As religious conflict and disharmony rage on elsewhere in the world, the interfaith teachings of Swami Vivekananda are evergreen to these devotees.
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.
At National Prayer Breakfast, Biden speaks of praying, working for peace
By Adelle M. Banks — February 1, 2024
(RNS) — ‘We're all blessed to live in a nation where we can practice our many faiths and practice them freely,’ Biden said at the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
With bonfires and hope, Iran’s minority Zoroastrians celebrate Sadeh and the end of cold winter days
By Associated Press — January 31, 2024
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Around the fire, people listened to bands playing music, theological lectures as they milled about eating and celebrating.
Nazi genocides of Jews and Roma were entangled from the start – and so are their efforts at Holocaust remembrance today
By Ari Joskowicz — January 29, 2024
(The Conversation) — Many young people today know little about the murder of European Jews during the Holocaust, and even less about the murder of Romani communities.
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.
Gaza’s oldest mosque, destroyed in an airstrike, was once a temple to Philistine and Roman gods, a Byzantine and Catholic church, and had engravings of Jewish ritual objects
By Stephennie Mulder — January 19, 2024
(The Conversation) — Gaza’s Omari Mosque embodies the history of Gaza – as a site of frequent destruction, but also of renewal, writes a scholar of Islamic architecture and archaeology.
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.
What Taoism teaches about the body and being healthy
By Michael Naparstek — January 10, 2024
(The Conversation) — A scholar of Daoist rituals explains how the indigenous tradition of China understands the human body as being part of the larger cosmos.
Once protected by its remoteness, a sacred lake in Kyrgyzstan is threatened by change
By Diana Kruzman — January 5, 2024
(RNS) — On the shores of Issyk Kul are more than 130 sacred sites, including trees, mountain peaks, hot springs and tombs of important figures. But the region itself, says one local expert, represents the sacred unity of nature and humanity.
As Druze fight alongside Jewish soldiers, Israel looks back on controversial Nation-State Law
By David I. Klein — December 11, 2023
(RNS) — For many Druze, an Arabic-speaking minority in Israel, the bill was seen as an insult and ignorant of the role the Druze have played in Israel’s military history.
How Henry Kissinger enabled the Bangladeshi Hindu genocide and let us forget it
By Murali Balaji — December 8, 2023
(RNS) — The late Henry Kissinger left a legacy of supporting policies that led to disaster for millions — including those who died in the 1971 Bangladeshi genocide.
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.
