Being born in the final decades of the Communist Czech government, Mašková feels lucky. By that time, its hold had already weakened, she recalls. Just a couple of decades ago, her parents and grandparents were risking a lot more than being expelled from school by practicing their religion.
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’Tis the season when Santa Claus is nearly everywhere. Most people know that jolly old St. Nick hails from the North Pole. But many might not realize that the real St. Nicholas, a fourth century Christian bishop, lived and worked in what is now the country of Turkey.
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(OPINION) Russia’s war on Ukraine and its attempt to destroy the very identity of Ukrainians is an unmitigated disaster. If there is any silver lining in this present nightmare it is the army of angels of mercy that has stepped forward to comfort and care for millions of Ukrainian refugees.
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(OPINION) So far, Hindutva’s overseas influence is limited. It is usually manifest in seeking political influence in diaspora countries and support, financial and otherwise, for Hindutva activities in India itself. However, there are increasing threats to academics and others critical of the Sangh Parivar agenda. Finally, in the last two years, there have been incidents of violence. The situation is likely to worsen.
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The tradition of a man bringing gifts to children is traced to stories about the early Greek bishop, St. Nicholas of Myra, a small city in modern day Turkey. Santa Claus today goes by different names around the world and is linked to various folktales and cultural practices. Here are the lesser-known variations of Santa, from the beaches of Aruba to the snow-capped mountains of Finland.
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(ANALYSIS) The World Cup in Qatar continues to roll along into the semifinals. So far, the premier soccer tournament — and arguably the planet’s biggest sporting event — has showcased skill, drama and even some upsets. Aside from all that, what the World Cup has also generated are plenty of different kinds of storylines to focus on.
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(ESSAY) What is now the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, has become a pilgrimage destination for some and an enigma to others. Mark Rothko has long been the mid-century artist whose work I thought had the most to say about the human condition. As a reader of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, Rothko often said that tragedy was at the heart of human experience — that in solitude our deep loneliness was palpable.
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Russia’s National Guard seized two priests in Russian-occupied Berdyansk on Nov. 16. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Donetsk Exarchate denies Russian claims that Father Ivan Levytsky and Father Bohdan Heleta stored explosives in the church and had “extremist” literature.
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A new statue in London’s iconic Trafalgar Square has sparked an unlikely controversy. At center stage is the life of Baptist preacher and Malawian national hero John Chilembwe. He was killed leading a rebellion against British colonial authorities during World War I.
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(ANALYSIS) Eighty years ago, in November 1942, the Nazis occupied Tunisia. For the next six months, Tunisian Jews and Muslims were subjected to the Third Reich’s reign of terror, as well as its antisemitic and racist legislation. Residents lived in fear – “under the Nazi boot,” as Tunisian Jewish lawyer Paul Ghez wrote in his diary during the occupation.
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Zurich, Switzerland, a hub of the Protestant Reformation — where minister Ulrich Zwingli condoned the eating of sausages during Lent in defiance of the Catholic Church — is losing its faith. Less than half of Switzerland’s 8.7 million souls identify as Catholic or Protestant, according to government figures.
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U.S. Army Chaplain Frederick A. McDonald collected shards of glass from broken stained glass windows of synagogues, churches and chapels across Europe during World War II. Those fragments are now part of an art exhibit called “Remembered Light: Glass Fragments from World War II, The McDonald Windows” on display in San Francisco’s Veterans Building through Nov. 20.
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The Argentina versus England quarterfinal matchup at the 1986 World Cup will forever be remembered as the game where Diego Maradona scored twice, one of them a controversial goal he later dubbed the “Hand of God.” The game, a mix of political tension and faith, cemented Maradona’s place as one of soccer’s greatest players.
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(OPINION) Ten months of Putin’s war in Ukraine have seen a litany of atrocities including summary executions, unlawful confinement, torture, ill-treatment, rape and other sexual violence, forced displacement of people, removal of children and illegal adoptions, among others. Over recent months, yet another aspect of the atrocities came into the spotlight, the issue of the so-called filtration camps.
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Rod Dreher, a senior editor and blogger at The American Conservative and a convert to Orthodox Christianity from Catholicism is one of the most influential voices in the conservative movement who has moved further right in recent years and argued for Americans to look to nationalist examples in Europe, like Victor Orban’s Hungary, for solutions.
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(OPINION) After the historically brief leadership of Britain's Liz Truss, Conservative Party members of Parliament this week agreed on Rishi Sunak, a Hindu, to succeed her as prime minister at a moment of severe economic and political turmoil.
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(ANALYSIS) Pope Francis decided to divide the church’s Synod of Bishops into two sessions, one next October and a second in October 2024, in order to “help everyone to live it as the journey of brothers and sisters who proclaim the joy of the Gospel.” What does it mean for the future of Catholicism?
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Yes, God loves Russians, Sorina Vintila told Zahar, a five-year-old Ukrainian refugee and his classmates. But “God doesn’t like when we are doing bad things. It makes him sad. God wants us to listen and obey him, just as Samuel did.”
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(REVIEW) Historian John McGreevy’s new book “Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis,” covering a period of 230 years, can only be defined as ambitious. Extremely well researched and skillfully put together, McGreevy’s book is a must-read for anyone interested in the planet’s largest Christian denomination.
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Tenzin Peljor runs a popular Buddhist blog that addresses controversies in Tibetan Buddhism, especially regarding abusive spiritual teachers. After choosing a guru, students take vows to see their teacher as an enlightened being — questioning or criticizing them can send one to a Tantric hell. Peljor, a monk himself, says he is exposing harmful practices while remaining faithful to the Buddhist tradition.
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