pagan
Canadian prisoners sue over lack of chaplains
By Ron Csillag — April 2, 2013
TORONTO (RNS) A group of prisoners in British Columbia is suing the Canadian government over a policy to cancel the contracts of non-Christian chaplains.
Pope to Wash Feet of Every Human Being on Planet
By Jana Riess — April 1, 2013
A flurry of excitement has attended the Vatican’s April 1 announcement that newly installed Pope Francis will embark on an ambitious plan to wash the feet of every person on Earth.
Facebook Rumi: How a Muslim mystic became a popular meme
By Omid Safi — March 2, 2013
These memes and Facebook sayings are transforming a 13th century Muslim mystic into the perfect New Age mystic.
Fox apologizes for comments on Wiccans at University of Missouri
By Kellie Moore — February 25, 2013
COLUMBIA, Mo. (RNS) Fox News contributor Tucker Carlson has apologized for comments he made about Wiccans, saying he "should have left them alone."
A Pope Everyone Can Agree On: Yoda
By Omid Safi — February 20, 2013
Here is a Pope that everyone can agree on: Yoda.
How about a change to Yoda, to move from an embodiment of authority to one that emphasizes spiritual transmission?
The faith of dogs
By Omid Safi — January 19, 2013
If this faithfulness and love is the faith of dogs, I pray for the faith of dogs for us human beings.
“You can’t walk on that side of the street”: Institutional Israeli Segregation
By Omid Safi — January 6, 2013
We in America saw the moral shortcoming of segregated lunch counters, segregated buses and segregated schools.
In Israel, there are still segregated roads, segregated housing, segregated sidewalks, segregated...
Malala Yousufzai, the young Jihadist, released from hospital. #RiseAgain
By Omid Safi — January 5, 2013
Malala is ready to embark on the her Jihad. #RiseAgain
I pray for the apocalypse
By Omid Safi — December 21, 2012
I pray for the apocalypse, today. Here is one of the original meanings of Apocalypse: Old English, via Old French and ecclesiastical Latin from Greek apokalupsis, from apokaluptein ‘uncover, reveal’, from apo- ‘un-‘ + kaluptein ‘to cover’. So yes, I pray for the apocalypse. I pray for the uncovering of falsehood. I pray for the discovery […]
Descendants want justice for Connecticut witches
By Ann Marie Somma — October 1, 2012
HARTFORD, Conn. (RNS) Connecticut was executing suspected witches some 40 years before Salem, Mass. Scores of others were put on trial until witchcraft was no longer listed as a capital crime in 1715. But unlike other states, Connecticut has yet to acknowledge those sent to the gallows. And descendants are trying to change that. By Ann Marie Somma.
Can a creedless religion make it another 50 years?
By Tracy Gordon — June 29, 2012
BALTIMORE (RNS) A recent Sunday service at the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore ended with an apology. Laurel Mendes explained that religious doctrine had been duly scrubbed from the hymns in the congregation's Sunday program. But Mendes, a neo-pagan lay member who led the service, feared that a reference to God in “Once to Every […]
Man spends 12 months practicing 12 different religions, and finds peace at year’s end
By Amanda Greene — April 13, 2012
LUMBERTON, N.C. (RNS) Andrew Bowen isn't Muslim, or Hindu, or Baha'i, or Mormon. In fact, he's none of the 12 faiths he practiced for a month at a time during 2011. Finding faith in God again was not Bowen's aim; he was looking for faith in humanity. By Amanda Greene.
Scotland Yard says witchcraft abuse a hidden crime
By Tracy Gordon — March 7, 2012
LONDON (RNS) British police have disclosed that they have investigated more than 80 witchcraft-based child abuse cases in the last decade and warned that the practice is "far more prevalent" than previously believed. By Al Webb.
At 27, new imam represents a homegrown American Islam
By Tracy Gordon — January 18, 2012
ST. LOUIS (RNS) At just 27 years old, Asif Umar is the new imam of Daar-ul-Islam mosque, the largest mosque in the metro area. The son of Indian immigrants is devoted to the city's sports teams, marking the end of Ramadan with a St. Louis Blues hockey game. He also represents the ascendance of a […]
Muslims caught in reality show crossfire struggle to understand controversy
By Tracy Gordon — December 20, 2011
DEARBORN, Mich. (RNS) When Fordson High School football coach Fouad Zaban was asked to be on a reality show about Muslim family life, his impulse was to decline. “It doesn’t seem like it now, but we kind of like our privacy,” Zaban said. “We are simple people. We don’t do crazy things. … Quite honestly, […]
