religion

Behind The Scenes At The World Muslim Beauty Pageant

Before you ask if there’s a swimsuit competition, you should know that the Miss World Muslimah pageant is about much more than superficial definitions of beauty. As Islam tends to place a high value on modesty, this contest focuses less on beauty’s physical aspects and more on its ideational ones:...

By Erin Kelly • Aug 4, 2015

Behind The Scenes At The World Muslim Beauty Pageant

Before you ask if there’s a swimsuit competition, you should know that the Miss World Muslimah pageant is about much more than superficial definitions of beauty. As Islam tends to place a high value on modesty, this contest focuses less on beauty’s physical aspects and more on its ideational ones:...

By Erin Kelly • August 4, 2015

To Hell And Back: Ethiopia’s Jews In Israel

Tucked away in northwest Ethiopia, along a line roughly stretching from Lake Tana to the border of Eritrea, lies the land of Beta Israel. This ancient region was once home to over 150,000 observant Jews, though only around 4,000 remain in the area today, most residents having relocated to Israel...

By Richard Stockton • Aug 2, 2015

To Hell And Back: Ethiopia’s Jews In Israel

Tucked away in northwest Ethiopia, along a line roughly stretching from Lake Tana to the border of Eritrea, lies the land of Beta Israel. This ancient region was once home to over 150,000 observant Jews, though only around 4,000 remain in the area today, most residents having relocated to Israel...

By Richard Stockton • August 2, 2015

Better Know A Pope: Clement V

Tired of letting the Italians have all the fun, Pope Clement V ushered in an era of French papal corruption.

By Richard Stockton • Jul 2, 2015

Better Know A Pope: Clement V

Tired of letting the Italians have all the fun, Pope Clement V ushered in an era of French papal corruption.

By Richard Stockton • July 2, 2015

Better Know A Saint: Cyril Of Alexandria

Saint Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria between 414 and 444, was a leg breaker for Jesus.

By Richard Stockton • Jun 30, 2015

Better Know A Saint: Cyril Of Alexandria

Saint Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria between 414 and 444, was a leg breaker for Jesus.

By Richard Stockton • June 30, 2015

Anne Frank Would Have Been 86 This Month. Celebrate Her Life With These Photos.

Anne Frank's life ended at a concentration camp in March 1945, just a few weeks short of its liberation. Look back on her life and legacy through photos.

By Erin Kelly • Jun 20, 2015

Anne Frank Would Have Been 86 This Month. Celebrate Her Life With These Photos.

Anne Frank's life ended at a concentration camp in March 1945, just a few weeks short of its liberation. Look back on her life and legacy through photos.

By Erin Kelly • June 20, 2015

20 Powerful Quotes By Pope Francis On Climate Change And The Environment

This Thursday Pope Francis released his much-anticipated (or dreaded, pending your politics) papal encyclical, which took on the topics of climate change, consumerism and environmental degradation through a moral lens. In the 184-page document, he calls for what the New York Times describes as “a radical transformation of politics, economics...

By Savannah Cox • Jun 18, 2015

Science News

20 Powerful Quotes By Pope Francis On Climate Change And The Environment

This Thursday Pope Francis released his much-anticipated (or dreaded, pending your politics) papal encyclical, which took on the topics of climate change, consumerism and environmental degradation through a moral lens. In the 184-page document, he calls for what the New York Times describes as “a radical transformation of politics, economics...

By Savannah Cox • June 18, 2015

Better Know A Saint: Philip Neri

Everybody knows that one jerk who's always bright and chipper and who never has a bad word to say about anybody else. Saint Philip was one of those.

By Richard Stockton • Apr 10, 2015

Better Know A Saint: Philip Neri

Everybody knows that one jerk who's always bright and chipper and who never has a bad word to say about anybody else. Saint Philip was one of those.

By Richard Stockton • April 10, 2015

Better Know A Pope: Benedict IX

So, New Pope has been irritating a lot of people lately. Conservative Catholics seem to be rather—ahem—cross with him over his support of progressive economic policies, while more liberal Catholics feel betrayed because he hasn’t come right out and started ordaining married lesbians as priests, or at least he hasn’t...

By Richard Stockton • Feb 20, 2015

Better Know A Pope: Benedict IX

So, New Pope has been irritating a lot of people lately. Conservative Catholics seem to be rather—ahem—cross with him over his support of progressive economic policies, while more liberal Catholics feel betrayed because he hasn’t come right out and started ordaining married lesbians as priests, or at least he hasn’t...

By Richard Stockton • February 20, 2015

Better Know A Pope: Stephen VI, The Grave Robber

You can’t tell the story of Stephen VI, who was pope for about a year in 897, without first telling the story of Formosus, the earlier pope whom Stephen had exhumed and put on trial for heresy. During the eighth and ninth centuries, the young Holy Roman Empire was convulsing...

By Richard Stockton • Jan 31, 2015

Better Know A Pope: Stephen VI, The Grave Robber

You can’t tell the story of Stephen VI, who was pope for about a year in 897, without first telling the story of Formosus, the earlier pope whom Stephen had exhumed and put on trial for heresy. During the eighth and ninth centuries, the young Holy Roman Empire was convulsing...

By Richard Stockton • January 31, 2015

Girl, Interrupted: The Life Of Saint Veronica

Some people are born to sainthood, while others have it thrust upon them whether they like it or not. Such was the case for Saint Veronica of Milan, our first in a series of hagiographies to help you better know a saint.

By Richard Stockton • Jan 24, 2015

Girl, Interrupted: The Life Of Saint Veronica

Some people are born to sainthood, while others have it thrust upon them whether they like it or not. Such was the case for Saint Veronica of Milan, our first in a series of hagiographies to help you better know a saint.

By Richard Stockton • January 24, 2015