The number of Muslims in the U.S. is variously estimated at between two and six million — or more. About half are immigrants, and most of the rest, African Americans. We have a profile today of two Caucasian converts who were attracted to Islam when they were living abroad.

We talk about the Jewish High Holidays with a hazzan, also known as a cantor, who leads a congregation in sung prayer.

Like other European nations, Holland’s reputation for tolerance is being tested as the country grapples with how to welcome and integrate its growing immigrant Muslim population -- a community of 900,000 people who are increasingly vocal in demanding equality in Dutch society.

We have a story about a gay Orthodox Jew struggling with that seemingly impossible choice between sexual orientation and religion. It's one of several such stories in a documentary feature film released three years ago and directed by Sandi Simcha Dubowski. The title of the film is TREMBLING BEFORE ...

Part four of a four-part series: evangelicals on their common commitment to spreading their faith. Tens of thousands do so through traditional career missionary efforts overseas, but the vast majority of evangelicals say they do it in their everyday lives.

In the Orthodox Christian tradition, icons are said to be written, not painted. The Orthodox consider making icons more a form of prayer than art, and they believe the iconographer's hand is guided by God.

"Every single food on the Passover Seder plate has a dual symbolism," says cookbook author Joan Nathan who explains the meaning behind some of the foods of the Seder.

For members of the clergy, providing spiritual care for their congregants is a role they are well prepared for. But providing spiritual care to the sick can be a different sort of challenge. In the nation's capital, the Washington Hospital Center offers clergy special training sessions for a special kind of sick person: the patient with cancer.

Do ancient ruins in Israel support or contradict the Bible’s depiction of King David and King Solomon? Archaeologists debate the matter as digging proceeds at Megiddo, where scholars are unearthing and dating the remains of cities, altars, and battlefields at one of civilization’s most ...

A growing black middle class and the lack of available land in cities are luring some African-American congregations to the suburbs, depriving their old neighborhoods of the ministries that had served them.

Many of the best known Christmas traditions were actually adapted from pagan practices and given new Christian meanings.

There's a movement under way among many Catholic women and women scholars to revise the reputation of Mary Magdalene. For centuries, she was reviled as a prostitute. But now, with the discovery of ancient text, several recent movies and novels are portraying her as an important figure in early ...

The consecration of Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson caused international debate over the role of gays in the church. Some Episcopalians are celebrating what they see as the church's openness and diversity, while others are lamenting what they believe is departure from Christian teaching. We visit one parish that is wrestling vigorously over what to think and how to respond.

This weekend, Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights. For some Hindus, Diwali coincides with a special worship service for the powerful goddess Kali, who represents opposites such as life and death, creation and destruction. We spoke about Kali with Kamanashish Chakraborty, ...

RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY profiles Peter Steinfels — Catholic, THE NEW YORK TIMES religion columnist, and author of the book A PEOPLE ADRIFT. Steinfels discusses the challenges facing the U.S. Catholic Church, from the sex abuse scandal to ordination of women, which he fears may send the ...

For the first time in 40 years, the “Greatest Story Ever Told” is being retold in a new round of films with religious themes. The first is THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. Visual Bible International, a faith-based media company, has produced a verbatim adaptation from the GOOD NEWS BIBLE — an ...

John Collier is a Texas artist who is making sculptures for St. Peter's Catholic Church in New York. His life work is religious art, but these sculptures are a tribute to the events of September 11th.

With 2003 as its eleventh year, the program called Seeds of Peace brings together the children of people who are often enemies, so that they might learn what they have in common. So that they might one day fight for peace rather than against each other.

An exhibit at Washington National Cathedral celebrates what can happen when people of different religions live together in peace. It displays treasures from the Middle Ages in Spain, when Spanish Jews, called Sephardim, lived peacefully alongside Christians and Muslims.

Yom Hashoah is Holocaust Remembrance Day; a solemn tribute to the six million Jews put to death by the Nazis before and during World War II. There was a range of reactions to Nazi persecution -- some people looked away, while others risked their own lives to help. Flora Singer survived the Holocaust ...