(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s selection looks back at the best photos of 2021.
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, a man holds a Bible as Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol in Washington. The Christian imagery and rhetoric on view during the Capitol insurrection are sparking renewed debate about the societal effects of melding Christian faith with an exclusionary breed of nationalism. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
A man dressed as George Washington kneels and prays near the Washington Monument with a Trump flag on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Nuns cross themselves as they attend the Christmas Mass in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, in accordance with the Julian calendar. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Exile Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns maintain social distance as a precaution against the coronavirus as they stand in a queue to vote in Dharmsala, India, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. Exile Tibetans Sunday voted in the first round to elect a new political leader and members of the Tibetan parliament in exile. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
A vendor winds strings for kites ahead of the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti, in Hyderabad, India, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. Kites are flown in many parts of India during the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti, which marks the transition of winter to spring. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
From left, Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden bow their heads in prayer during a virtual Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service, in the State Dinning Room of the White House, on Jan. 21, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A Shariah Law official uses a rattan cane to whip one of two men convicted of homosexual sex in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. Two men in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province were caned 77 times each after neighbors reported them to the Shariah Police for having sex. (AP Photo/Riska Munawarah)
A Sikh farmer carries a sword while returning to his makeshift tent at one of the three main protest sites, at Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. India's agriculture minister on Friday defended the new agriculture reform laws in Parliament, dampening hopes of any quick settlement with tens of thousands of protesting farmers demanding their repeal by blocking three highways connecting New Delhi to northern India for over two months now. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Hindu devotees cross a pontoon bridge at Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges and the Yamuna, on 'Mauni Amavasya' or new moon day, an auspicious bathing day during the annual month-long Hindu religious festival "Magh Mela" In Prayagraj, India, on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims take dips in the confluence, hoping to wash away sins during the month-long festival. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Priestess Laura D'Oya Yalorixa, center, takes part in an Umbanda religious ceremony at the Casa de Caridade Santa Barbara Iansa temple in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021. The faithful of the Umbanda religion, brought to the Americas by West African slaves, perform spiritual protection rituals as part of pre-Carnival traditions. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
The Rev. John Szatkowski, left, and Deacon Bob Bonomi sweep water out of St. Paul The Apostle Church in Richardson, Texas, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. Father Szatkowski and his staff found the flooding, from a broken water line, as they prepared for Ash Wednesday services. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
The new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porfirije, performs the liturgy ceremony in Congregational Church, in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. Patriarch Porfirije replaces Patriarch Irinej, who died in November 2020 from COVID-19 complications. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A Hindu priest performs rituals at the Sangam, confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, on the eve of the Maghi Purnima, or the full-moon day, during the annual traditional fair of Magh Mela in Prayagraj, India, Feb. 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Buddhist monks, supporters of anti-coup protesters, display placards with the letters CRPH standing for Committee Representing elected members of the Union Parliament from the National League for Democracy Party, during a street march in Mandalay, Myanmar, Wednesday, March 10, 2021. (AP Photo)
A Hindu holy man takes a holy bath before praying during Shivratri festival on the Pashupatinath temple premises in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, March 11, 2021. Shivratri, or the night of Shiva, is dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of death and destruction. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Children play ball with brooms during Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) holiday celebrations at the Izmailovsky Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 13, 2021. Maslenitsa is an Orthodox Christian holiday celebrated in the last week before the Orthodox Lent. The festivities feature baking traditional pancakes, sleigh rides, sparring between groups of men and, finally burning the effigy of Maslenitsa. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
A family flies a kite in a field of flowers in Drapetsona, a suburb of Piraeus, near Athens, on Sunday, March 14, 2021. The coronavirus pandemic, which hit Cyprus and Greece especially hard this winter, threatened to ground an annual kite-flying tradition, an essential part of the celebration of Clean Monday, the first day of Orthodox Lent. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The full moon rises Sunday, March 28, 2021, over the Camlica Mosque, the largest mosque in Asia Minor, in Istanbul. The March full moon is called the "Worm Moon". (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
A nun stands behind police creating a perimeter for a Holy Week procession by devotees of the "Nazareno de San Pablo" statue of Jesus before it passes through in a popemobile amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 31, 2021. The annual procession wasn't allowed for the second year in a row to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Ultra-orthodox Jewish men pray during the Jewish holiday of Passover at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in the Old City of Jerusalem, Monday, March 29, 2021. The Cohanim, believed to be descendants of priests who served God in the Jewish Temple before it was destroyed, perform a blessing ceremony of the Jewish people three times a year during the holidays of Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Muslim women pose for a selfie as they wait to break their fast at sundown during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, along the seaside promenade in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 15, 2021. Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, when they refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and sex from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Rodney Floyd, brother of George Floyd, center, stands with the Rev. Al Sharpton, right, as they pray during a news conference outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, Monday, April 19, 2021, before the murder trial against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin advanced to jury deliberations. Chauvin was found guilty of all three murder charges. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Lummi Nation elder Lucille Spencer prays over a nearly 25-foot totem pole, to be gifted from the tribe to the administration of President Joe Biden, in view of Mount Baker, background, shortly after the pole was moved from a carving shed, Monday, April 19, 2021, on the Lummi Reservation, near Bellingham, Washington. The pole, carved from a 400-year old red cedar, will make a journey from the reservation past sacred Indigenous sites, before arriving in Washington, D.C., in early June. Organizers said the totem pole is a reminder to leaders to honor the rights of Indigenous people and their sacred sites. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Priests hold palm fronds during the Palm Sunday procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and rose from the dead, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Sunday, April. 25, 2021. Followers of the Orthodox and Eastern churches began marking Holy Week on Sunday, April 25. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People gather around candles during a vigil in memory of the 45 ultra-Orthodox Jews killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel on Friday, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, May 2, 2021. The stampede early Friday cut short the annual festival of Lag b’Omer on Israel's Mount Meron. It was one of the country's deadliest civilian disasters. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Residents paddle through flooded streets past a church in Anama, Amazonas state, Brazil, Thursday, May 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Muslims ride horses after Eid al-Fitr prayers in an outdoor open area in Bauchi, Nigeria, Thursday, May 13, 2021. Millions of Muslims across the world are marking a muted and gloomy holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, a usually joyous three-day celebration that has been significantly toned down as coronavirus cases soar. (AP Photo/Sani Maikatanga)
Muslims girls display their hands painted with traditional henna to celebrate Eid al-Fitr holidays, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, May 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
Dancing devils sit outside a local Catholic church listening to the Mass taking place inside, in San Francisco de Yare, Venezuela, Thursday, June 3, 2021, amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Carnival-like dance, in which the devils pay penance and ask for relief from physical ailments, symbolizes the ongoing struggle between good and evil. The tradition dates to 1742, when liberal priests in Venezuela used it to include African slaves who were not permitted to worship in the same church as their white masters.(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A Red Cross health worker attends a man on hunger strike as he occupies the Saint-Jean-Baptiste-au-Beguinage church in Brussels, Monday, June 7, 2021. Dozens of migrants without official papers who have been occupying the church since last February, with permission of the priest, began a hunger strike on May 23, 2021, to draw the attention of Brussels authorities to their plight. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Lava erupts from a crater of Mt. Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, behind Santa Maria della Guardia church in Belpasso, near Catania, in the southern Italian island of Sicily, early Friday, June 18, 2021. On Feb. 16, 2021, Mt. Etna began a series of spectacular eruptive episodes. (AP Photo/Salvatore Allegra)
Mahmoud Abdulnabi builds an oud at his workshop in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, June 17, 2021. After years of taking their art underground for fear of Islamic State attacks, oud makers say the traditional handicraft is flourishing in Iraq once again since the extremist Islamic group was defeated. The oud dates back at least 5,000 years to southern Mesopotamia and is a staple of Middle Eastern music. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Southern Baptist Convention messengers attend the annual meeting, Tuesday, June 15, 2021, at the Music City Center in Nashville. RNS photo by Kit Doyle
Revelers dance during the "Inti Raymi," or Sun Festival celebrations, despite restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, in Cotacachi, Ecuador, Thursday, June 24, 2021. Across the Andes, from the tip of Argentina as far north as Colombia, indigenous communities gather in June for the southern hemisphere's winter solstice to pay homage to Inti, the ancient Incan sun god, in hopes of being granted a plentiful harvest. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians hold candles to celebrate the festival of Senay Mikael, or the Feast of St. Michael, as they listen to a sermon at St. Michael Church in the Intoto neighborhood on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Saturday, June 19, 2021. As well as celebrating the festival, priests prayed for peace in the country and in upcoming elections. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Police officers escort a suspect, center, to the prosecutor's office at a court in Athens, Greece, on Thursday, June 24, 2021. The defrocked Greek Orthodox priest has been charged with multiple counts of causing grievous bodily harm over an acid attack that injured seven senior bishops and three other people. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
People walk around a bonfire celebrating the summer solstice in Okunevo village, northeast of the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia, Monday, June 21, 2021. The festivities of Ivan Kupala, or John the Baptist, are similar to Mardi Gras and reflect pre-Christian Slavic traditions and practices. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Sofiychuk)
People sit around a statue of the late Saint Pope John Paul II outside the Agostino Gemelli hospital, where Pope Francis was hospitalized Sunday for intestinal surgery, in Rome, Friday, July 9, 2021. The Vatican's daily update on Thursday said Francis was continuing to eat and move around unassisted, and had even sent his greetings to young cancer patients at Rome's Gemelli hospital. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Traditional Indian wrestlers engage in a bout during Nag Panchami festival in Prayagraj, India, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. Every year, the wrestlers offer prayers and hold bouts to mark the festival, which is primarily dedicated to the worship of snakes. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Taliban fighters patrol in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 18, 2021. The Taliban declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee the country. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
A band plays during the funeral of Baptist church minister Andre Tessono, who was killed during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the area eight days ago, in the Picot neighborhood in Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A Kashmiri Shiite Muslim boy flagellate himself as he participates in an Ashura procession, the 10th day of Muharram, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. Muharram is a month of mourning in remembrance of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews of the Kiryat Sanz Hassidic sect pray on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea as they participate in a Tashlich ceremony, in Netanya, Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Tashlich, which means "to cast away" in Hebrew, is the practice in which Jews go to a large flowing body of water and symbolically "throw away" their sins by throwing a piece of bread, or similar food, into the water before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Khishtan art group performs the Sama dance, or a Sufi dance, at a theater hall in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. Sama is a popular form of worship in Sufism. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Muslim pilgrims pray shoulder-to-shoulder for the first time since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, in front of the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. The Ministry of Interior announced Friday that, due to a significant nationwide decline in COVID-19 cases and the Kingdom's high vaccination rates, a number of restrictions will be relaxed starting Sunday. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
An Indigenous family smokes tobacco as part of a ritual in honor of folk saint Maximon, a fictitious Indigenous person who is a syncretism of a Mayan and Saint Judas Thaddeus, on the feast day of both men outside the Maximon chapel in San Andres Itzapa, Guatemala, Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. For the second year in a row, the celebration has been reduced amid restrictions to help curb the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
A member of the Women of the Wall clutches a Torah scroll, as she is surrounded by Israeli security forces holding back protesters at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered at the site to protest against the Jewish women's group that holds monthly prayers there in a long-running campaign for gender equality at the site. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Stones are placed on a table following a Commemoration Ceremony in Schenley Park, in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. It has been three years since a gunman killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue, in America's deadliest antisemitic attack. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
People light earthen lamps on the banks of the Saryu River in Ayodhya, India, Nov. 3, 2021. Over 900,000 earthen lamps were lit and were kept burning for 45 minutes as the north Indian city of Ayodhya retained its Guinness World Record for lighting oil lamps as part of the Diwali celebration — the Hindu festival of lights. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter, of the South Philadelphia Shtiebel, lights a menorah during a public Hanukkah celebration and menorah lighting ceremony in South Philadelphia on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021. Fruchter is one of about a half-dozen ordained women who serve Modern Orthodox synagogues across the U.S. and one of even fewer who serve as top spiritual leaders. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd)
