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Arts & Culture

‘God’s Favorite Idiot’: Proof we need more religious comedies
By Jillian Cheney — June 28, 2022
(RNS) — The show is a reminder that not all stories with a religious message have to be somber or existential. Sometimes they can — and should be — as sweet and simple as pecan pie.

New documentary follows the Rev. James Martin ‘Building a Bridge’ to LGBTQ Catholics
By Emily McFarlan Miller — June 23, 2022

Where the witches were men: A historian explains what magic looked like in early modern Russia
By Valerie Kivelson — June 15, 2022
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#ChurchToo revelations growing, years after movement began
By Peter Smith and Holly Meyer — June 13, 2022
(AP) — In recent weeks #ChurchToo has seen an especially intense set of revelations across denominations and ministries.

New book ‘Interpreting Religion’ dares to ask ‘how’
By Kathryn Post — June 13, 2022
(RNS) — How do religious people make meaning? And how are those meanings transmitted, contested and remade?

Humanist children’s books translated, available free in Muslim-majority countries
By Kathryn Post — June 9, 2022
(RNS) — ‘The world is a very special place even without magic or the supernatural,’ said Bailey Harris, who began writing her book series at age 8.

Why ‘The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem’ matters
By Jeffrey Salkin — June 3, 2022
(RNS) — Come for the story. Stay for the strong women characters.

Chicago church preaches ‘The Gospel according to Dolly Parton’
By Emily McFarlan Miller — May 30, 2022
(RNS) — For the past five weeks, each Sunday’s sermon at Church of the Three Crosses has focused on a different song by Parton.

‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ raises the question: Are Mormons dangerous?
By Jana Riess — May 25, 2022
(RNS) — If ‘Banner’ undermines its own credibility by only presenting the horrific side of Mormonism’s founding, the contemporary LDS church undermines its credibility by ignoring the dangers of religiously inspired violence.

How a witch is using her grandmother’s Slavic magic to aid Ukraine’s war effort
By Emily McFarlan Miller — May 20, 2022
(RNS) — Madame Pamita's new book 'Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft' was released just after Russia's invasion of Ukraine — 'exactly at the time that it was so needed,' she said.

Kendrick Lamar’s new album reminds us that even prophets are fallible
By Andre Henry — May 18, 2022
(RNS) — His first album in five years has the Pulitzer Prize winner counting the costs of truth-telling.

With new solo album, Sonny Singh comes full circle
By Simran Jeet Singh — May 13, 2022
(RNS) — Activist and musician Sonny Singh's first solo album blends politics, music and Sikh faith.

‘My Body Is Not a Prayer Request’ imagines a disability-centered church
By Kathryn Post — May 12, 2022
(RNS ) — ‘My body, too, is made in the image of the Divine and its crookedness isn’t anything to be ashamed of.’

The Pulitzer winner is also the most compelling Jewish novel of the past year
By Jeffrey Salkin — May 12, 2022
(RNS) — It just won the Pulitzer for fiction. It is either a tour de force, or a tour de farce. You decide.

A new novel explores a post-pandemic religious world — in the 14th century
By Jana Riess — May 11, 2022
(RNS) — Peter Manseau’s latest book examines the Black Death for clues to our cultural moment.
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