Iñigo of Loyola was 30 years old when his leg was shattered by a cannonball during the siege of a castle by the French military in Pamplona in 1521. This pivotal incident, which might have been merely a tragic setback to another person, marked the beginning of his new life.

After Ignatius stayed in Pamplona for several days, his French captors, who treated him “with courtesy and kindness,”... [Read more]

Much has been written recently about new cell phone applications targeting the religious community. Almost overnight there have appeared a series of iPhone and other downloadable smartphone apps which enable worshippers from every spiritual stripe to look up holy book verses, access meditation instructions, or receive prayer reminders on the fly. There is even an app for Muslims to locate the nearest... [Read more]

Analogies are dangerous weapons. If you can persuade someone convinced that “B is terrible” that “A is like B,” then they will have to agree that A must also be terrible. Having established with this analogy that A is terrible, it follows that we must then abandon A, go to war against A, stop believing A, vote A down, invade a Middle Eastern country that starts with A, keep... [Read more]

By Steve McSwain

Thirty-four million Americans have given up on organized religion, according to the most recent American Religious Identification Survey. Yet for many of these dropouts — from churches, synagogues, temples and so on — spirituality is still a vital part of their lives.

How else would you explain the phenomenal success of Eckhart Tolle’s The Power... [Read more]

Rumi is justly celebrated as one of the great poets of human history. When I started reading him as an undergraduate 45 years ago, I did not know Persian and relied on the work of R. A. Nicholson, who produced the first critical edition of Rumi’s 25,000-verse Mathnawi along with a complete English translation and two volumes of commentary (eight volumes in all). At that time Rumi was practically... [Read more]

By Brad Hirschfield

The ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, which coincides this year with sundown on July 19, recalls the collapse of ancient Judaism’s central religious institution, the Jerusalem Temple. The First Temple, built by King Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonians, was, according to the Talmud, destroyed because the Israelites practiced idolatry, rape, incest, and murder.... [Read more]

The war continues to rage in Afghanistan. The enduring violence and conflict has left the nation, its people and economy in ruins. Over the past nine years, billions of dollars have been spent and army commanders have come and gone. Like many of its neighbours in the Middle East, Afghanistan continues to find its existence challenged by the problem of terrorism, fundamentalism and fanaticism. Why... [Read more]

The Oban ceremony is a time to remember. While I studied with Maezumi Roshi, my Japanese Zen teacher, Obon was a time to remember ancestors. We banged on pots and pans to invite in all of the hungry ghosts, the spirits of the deceased who didn’t reach Nirvana and remained in a sort of limbo of dissatisfaction. We offered them food to satisfy them and then released candle-lit boats into a stream... [Read more]

Is there more to Jewish food than bagels and Manischewitz? The new Jewish Food Movement, a loose confederation of farmers, religious leaders, health and nutrition buffs, organizers, philosophers, activists, and consumers, says yes. Drawing on deep Jewish religious traditions and values, the movement is inspiring a new generation of Jews to lead lives of faith, justice, environmentalism, and community... [Read more]

By Karl Giberson

Jerry Coyne and I had an interesting exchange yesterday that will appear in a brief video on USA Today’s website at some point. The question related to the compatibility of science and religion. Can one accept the modern scientific view of the world and still hold to anything resembling a traditional belief in God?

My answer to this question is “yes, of... [Read more]