In Rio de Janeiro, practitioners of the Afro-Brazilian faiths Candomble and Umbanda are increasingly under attack by evangelical crusaders.
AP Photo/Leo Correa
Robert Muggah, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
As evangelicalism spreads across Brazil, some of Rio de Janeiro’s most notorious gangs see minority religions as an affront to God. And they’re using guns to spread their gospel.
Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, at a news conference on Nov. 5, 2018, in Cheektowaga, New York.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Seven US bishops have been removed for covering up clergy sexual abuse since 2015 after decades of no accountability. An expert explains how Catholic movements and whistleblowers forced this change.
Organized religion is faring better than it may appear.
James Kirkikis/Shutterstock.com
US federal regulations say little about how animals on organic farms should be treated. So if you’re planning to serve an ethical holiday dinner, you’ll have to do some research.
A replica of Nubian Tribute Presented to the King, Tomb of Huy, showing Nubians with their children paying tribute to the Egyptian Pharaoh. Based on the original from circa 1353–1327 B.C.
(Wikimedia)
Coming to a greater understanding of children in ancient history raises important questions for how societies respond — or not — to children’s vulnerability.
Christmas tours to mansions often present a ‘magical’ experience to tourists, but they ignore the realities of the lives of slaves who worked there.
Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau/Flickr
Fictional accounts of white Southerners make it seem like it was fun to be a slave on a plantation at holiday time. Many of today’s tours repeat such stories.
A narrow river divides Myanmar from Bangladesh, where nearly 1 million now live as refugees.
AP Photo/Bernat Armangue
Dozens of Muslim-majority countries are asking the UN’s International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute a 2017 massacre in Myanmar that killed an estimated 10,000 Rohingya Muslims.
The countryside around Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, is home to the country’s largest Mennonite population.
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Chronic violence was dampening the holiday spirit in Chihuahua, Mexico. So the Mennonite community planned a ‘Parade of Lights’ and holiday party where neighbors could celebrate safely even at night.
Purity culture promotes sexual abstinence before marriage.
charlene trapp/Flickr
Evangelicals who were taught as children that Christians abstain from sex until marriage are coming out and revealing the dark side of the so-called ‘purity movement.’
NYPD officers turning their backs on New York mayor Bill de Blasio after he remarked on police violence, Jan. 4, 2015.
AP Photo/John Minchillo,
Holiday movies offer us a glimpse into how the world is could be, often in sharp contrast to our lives as they are. In that way, the annual act of viewing them is like a religious ritual.
All voting-age Indians may soon be asked to submit government-issued ID to prove citizenship. That may be a challenge for women, religious minorities and members of oppressed castes.
AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh
Many women, Muslims and members of oppressed castes in India lack government-issued ID. Yet these documents may soon be required to prove their citizenship.
A portrait from 1868 of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz
Among Tubman’s most daring feats was helping slaves escape. She believed she went into trances and had visions. These, to her, were God’s way of guiding her, which made her quite fearless.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry speaks during an event about the environment at the White House on July 8, 2019, as President Trump looks on.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
A Christian movement led by independent religious entrepreneurs, often referred to as ‘apostles,’ is changing the religious landscape of the US.
Dilbar Ali Ravu, 10, is kissed by his aunt, Dalal Ravu, as Yazidi children are reunited with their families in Iraq after five years of captivity with the Islamic State group, March 2, 2019.
AP Photo/Philip Issa, File
Interviews with the Yazidi survivors of IS attacks that killed 3,100 people in 2014 reveal the emotional, cultural and spiritual scars of religious persecution.
A new housing project in the West Bank settlement of Naale, part of the Israeli government’s recent push to increase its presence in the disputed territory, Jan. 1, 2019.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
The US delighted Israel and outraged Palestinians by announcing it sees nothing illegal with Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Here, a brief history of this hotly disputed land.
A mother hugs her son at the memorial of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2019, the first anniversary of the shooting at the synagogue.
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
The US Constitution is supposed to protect freedom of religion. But in the 20th century, white Christian nationalists used this ideal to discriminate against Jews and justify their exclusion.
A Christian pilgrim prays at the historic Deyruzzaferan monastery in Mardin, in southeastern Turkey,
AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis
The percentage of Christians in Turkey declined from nearly 25% in 1914 to less than 0.5% today. Their future looks even more uncertain in today’s political climate.
Supporters of former Bolivian president Evo Morales rally with indigenous flags outside the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 18, 2019.
AP Photo/Juan Karita
Indigenous people, symbols and religious practices filled the halls of power in Bolivia during Evo Morales’ 14-year tenure. Now a new conservative Christian leader seems to be erasing that legacy.
A Hindu woman prays to the bricks that are expected to be used in constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya, following a verdict from the Indian Supreme Court.
AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh
India’s Supreme Court has allowed a Hindu temple to be built on the disputed site of a 16th-century mosque. The verdict could have long-term ramifications for India’s tradition of religious diversity.