Stories related to: religion

Unflappable contrarian Christopher Hitchens asks why he's accused of "insulting 1.5 billion Muslims" whenever he challenges their faith in public. Arguing that no other group takes such umbrage when its empirical beliefs are questioned, the militant secularist concludes that the appeal to Muslims' feelings has an "unmistakable note of menace" behind it. More »

Faith-based action figures will soon compete with the latest Bratz and Transformers dolls on the shelves of a Wal-Mart near you. Tales of Glory figurines, including Samson, Jesus and Daniel (complete with the Lions’ Den), are being promoted as "God-honoring toys" in a market full of figures that "glorify evil, destruction, lying, cheating." More »

A Jesuit academic is encouraging fellow believers to take the word of God to a new world—virtual reality. In a Roman Jesuit journal, Father Antonio Spadaro urges missionaries to preach the good life in Second Life, describing the online simulation game as packed with real souls to save, Reuters reports. More »

A 53-year-old fisherman's daughter from Kerala, India, stands at the center of an empire of idol worship and charitable works—stands there and hugs her disciples. Amma, a mother figure revered by many as a goddess, commands a kingdom of philanthropy, volunteerism, and merchandising, Salon reports. The reporter even jumps the line and gets a hug. More »

Is a former traffic cop named Sergei Tropov really the reincarnation of Jesus? Five thousand devoted followers of the Church of the Last Testament believe so, and they've relocated to a remote corner of the Siberian wilderness, where they are constructing a new town founded on the 18-year-old religion. The Washington Post pays a call. More »

Cardinal Roger Mahony publicly apologized yesterday to the 508 plaintiffs in a sexual-abuse lawsuit the archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to settle for a record $660 million. Mahony, who met privately with many of the victims abused by clergy, said he wished their lives were like a videotape—"we could put the tape in and delete these years of difficulty and misery." More »

Ancient Jewish dietary laws meet contemporary concerns about how food is produced in what the Washington Post calls the "eco-kosher" movement. American Jews are increasingly concerned about  labor standards, treatment of animals, and ecological impact of what goes on their table, even if they don't keep kosher, and religious leaders are responding. More »

Three ex-leaders of the country's largest Christian gay-conversion ministry apologized for their behavior yesterday, saying the group had caused psychological distress to those it claimed to help. An Exodus International co-founder, now out as a gay man, lamented that the organization had made people feel "compelled to try to change an integral part of themselves," the LA Times reports. More »

Barack Obama assailed right-wing evangelical leaders yesterday, accusing them of "hijacking" faith and politicizing religion, the Daily News reports. Addressing the national conference of the United Church of Christ, he criticized "so-called leaders of the Christian right" for demonizing Democrats and convincing Americans that Christians' main concerns are gay marriage and abortion. More »

Tony Blair is about to become a Roman Catholic, the Guardian reports. His wife is a practicing Catholic, his children were raised in the faith, and the PM has attended mass with them often. But political considerations have kept him officially Anglican all these years. With his last day in office next week, he's planning to come out of the religious closet. More »

Mitt Romney is still having to explain and defend his religion on the campaign trail. In recent weeks, staffers for two GOP rivals sent out e-mails questioning Mormon beliefs (the candidates later apologized), notes ABC News. And Romney himself has had to battle misconceptions about his faith, especially with regard to polygamy, which the church banned in 1890. More »

God is returning to the big screen this Friday in Universal's Evan Almighty , a big-budget comedy aimed at the churchgoing. The LA TImes recalls that Hollywood used to balk at religiously-inflected films, but saw the light when Mel Gibson's spiritual blockbuster The Passion of the Christ raked in $370M in 2004. More »

Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, stayed in the background of the legendary evangelist's ministry but was far from obscure. The missionary's daughter was at once demure, feisty, independent, and unpredictable, the LA Times reports. Graham, who died yesterday at 87, was also an accomplished poet and parent to five children whose father often traveled for months at a time. More »

The Justice Department has set race discrimination cases on the back burner to pursue claims by religious groups that their rights have been violated, the Times reports. Bush administration attorneys have intervened spiritedly in protecting churches and synagogues from zoning committees, for instance, but slashed lawsuits on behalf of minority voters. More »

Paris Hilton says she's found God and will change her life at the end of her 45-day jail term. Barbara Walters chatted with the heretofore mischievous and materialistic heiress on a collect call from prison, and recapped the conversation on yesterday's View . "I have become much more spiritual," Paris said. "God has given me this new chance." More »

Cutting ties with the Catholic Church is, in theory, a relatively simple matter known as "debaptism." More and more Italians who aren't worried about the Vatican's formal stance on what it calls "an act of apostasy, heresy or schism" are finding the documents they need online. Wired considers the digital angle on an ecclesiastical process. More »

Just weeks after Pope Benedict XVI decried contraception as a threat to the future of Latin America on his visit to Brazil, Brazil's president announced that the government would subsidize birth control pills at private pharmacies so poor women can have "the same right that the wealthy have to plan the number of children they want." More »

The Pope applied some salve to wounded relations with the Muslim world yesterday after neglecting and then appearing to slander Islam in a speech last fall. In a surprising reversal, Benedict XVI announced he is restoring the Vatican department responsible for Muslim affairs, which he demoted in importance last year. More »

The Swiss have gone NIMBY (not in my back yard) on minarets.  While Switzerland's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, a number of leading politicians want to ban them via a referendum this fall.  There are now exactly two minarets in all of Switzerland. More »

Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on Africa's Anglican church to let go of what he called its "extraordinary obsession" with gay priests and same-sex marriage.  The church should, instead, be paying attention to the crises caused by AIDS, Darfur and Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe's corruption.  More »