Religion

A pilgrim walks the Way of St. James outside Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain, on July 21, 2010. The ancient religious pilgrimage is also attracting the nonreligious these days.

An Ancient Religious Pilgrimage That Now Draws The Secular

9:00pm May 20, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

The 1,200-year-old European pilgrimage route known as the Way of St. James is undergoing a revival. Tens of thousands of people are walking across France to the Spanish coastal city of Santiago de Compostela, and the relics of St. James. Once a religious affair, it's now a cultural and social phenomenon as well.

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The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C, is one of the world's largest cathedrals, and the seat of the Episcopal Church.

A Search For Faith In 'Godless' Washington

4:03pm May 06, 2013

by NPR Staff

When he first moved to Washington, D.C., White House faith adviser Jonathan DuBois had heard people in the nation's capital weren't serious about their religious beliefs. Instead, he found how those in the public eye keep a private faith.

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Jeffrey Bronfman, UDV church national vice president; Solar Law, UDV church national president; and Tai Bixby, head pastor of the Santa Fe congregation. Churchgoers participate in a ceremony where hallucinogenic huasca tea is consumed, and some neighbors

Religion

Controversy Brews Over Church's Hallucinogenic Tea Ritual

8:17pm April 25, 2013

by John Burnett

A U.S. transplant of a Brazilian sect drinks huasca tea and then finds spiritual exploration in the visions it induces. The Supreme Court has granted the group full rights as a church to sip all the tea it wants, but some neighbors in Santa Fe, N.M., are trying to block construction of a house of worship.

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Religion

Boston: The Conversation In Arab-American And Muslim Communities

2:45pm April 18, 2013

After the bombings in Boston, law professor Khaled Beydoun was gripped by the fear that the culprit would be found to be an Arab or Muslim American. Since Sept. 11, 2001, he says this anxiety has become quite familiar in Arab and Muslim communities, and that has transformed the grieving process.

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How Evangelical Christians Are Preaching The New Gospel Of Adoption

3:16pm April 16, 2013

In The Child Catchers, Kathryn Joyce explores the outsized influence of evangelical Christian groups on the overseas adoption industry. The adoption movement has orchestrated a boom-and-bust market that can exploit poor families in countries where regulations are weak and "orphans" may not actually be orphans.

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Religion

'Til Faith Do Us Part': The Mixed Blessings Of Interfaith Marriage

2:19pm April 10, 2013

In the 1950s, 20 percent of marriages in the U.S. were interfaith unions. By the first decade of the 21st century, the rate increased to 45 percent. While the decision is common, it comes with a unique set of challenges. In Til Faith Do Us Part, Naomi Schaefer Riley explains the risks and benefits.

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Bill Glucroft, an American Jew living in Berlin, chats with visitors from his box in the most controversial portion of the Berlin Jewish Museum's exhibition "The Whole Truth."

Jewishness On Display: 'Truth' By Way Of Discomfort

9:16pm April 05, 2013

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

A new exhibit in Berlin's Jewish Museum is intentionally provocative. The point, one curator says, is to "get people talking about how they perceive Jews, particularly in Germany today." At the center of the controversy is a display in which a Jewish person sits inside a glass showcase and answers questions from visitors.

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Pope Benedict XVI has been the leader of the Catholic Church for eight years and is the first pope to retire since 1415.

Religion

Catholic Church At Crossroads: Demographics, Social Issues Pose Challenges

2:42pm April 02, 2013

by NPR Staff

Pope Benedict XVI leaves the church in the midst of change: American Catholics' social views tend to diverge from the Vatican's, and the church now sees much of its support in South America and Africa. One former member of the College of Cardinals says the next pope will have to be aware of the church's needs in South America.

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Parishioners partake in the Way Of The Cross procession at the Colosseum on Good Friday in Rome. A group of women Catholics recently made a pilgrimage to Rome to request that women once again be allowed to hold leadership positions in the church.

With New Pope, Catholic Women Hope To Regain Church Leadership Roles

8:45pm April 01, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

A group of American nuns and Catholic women has traveled to Rome for a pilgrimage to the sites where there are traces on frescoes, mosaics and sarcophagi that show how women played an important role in the church in the early centuries of Christianity. Groups say women once held "co-equal roles with men."

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Nick Wiseman, partner at DGS Delicatessen, inspects the kitchen as an employee prepares pastrami sandwiches for lunch in Washington, D.C.

Reviving The Spirit And Schmaltz Of The Jewish Deli

10:55am March 28, 2013

by Padmananda Rama

Smoked salmon pastrami may sound heretical, but owners of a revisionist Jewish deli in Washington, D.C., say it's all part of a revival of traditional Jewish cuisine.

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