“In simple terms, we have become the most religiously diverse nation on earth,” says Diana Eck, professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University. More →

March 8, 2002

Part two of a five-part series exploring religious America: Today, just over half of all Americans are Protestants, worshipping in 300,000 congregations, in many hundreds of denominations — and, often, apart from any denomination. Part two reports on the experiences of being a mainline Protestant, an evangelical, and part of the black Church. More →

March 3, 2002

On February 27, Ireland’s venerable rock band U2, led by singer Bono, won four Grammy Awards. Read an excerpt adapted from Bono’s introduction to the Psalms, published in 1999 by Grove Press. More →

March 1, 2002

When a person has a religious experience, what happens within the brain? What kind of changes take place? In one experiment, brain scans examine the parts of the brain that are activated during prayer. In another, mystical and religious experiences are simulated by using bursts of electrical impulses. These experiments have created no small amount of controversy. More →

November 9, 2001

More than five weeks later, America remains deeply shaken by the events of September 11th, no more so than in New York. Correspondent Betty Rollin spoke with four religious New Yorkers of different faiths to see how they were affected. More →

October 19, 2001

As of early October 2005, 30,000 U.S. troops had been deployed to the Middle East and Central Asia, and among them were some of the country’s 2,800 military chaplains. How do chaplains help prepare U.S. forces for whatever lies ahead? In particular, how are they counseling American military personnel who are Muslim? More →

October 5, 2001

“Rather than to try to change God, prayer should change us, should make us better human beings. That is the ultimate purpose of prayer,” says Cantor Abraham Lubin of Congregation Beth El in Bethesda, Maryland. We spoke with him as he prepared for the high holidays. More →

September 21, 2001

A new report from the Institute of Medicine, which advises the government on health policy, calls on the U.S. to do far more than is now being done to relieve the suffering of dying children and their families. Doctors and families face a dilemma in trying to choose between painful treatment that is unlikely to work and palliative care to make possible a so-called “good death.” More →

September 7, 2001

One of the consequences of the Holocaust was its effect on the faith of observant Jews. How could a just God have permitted such a tragedy? Today, the personal story, in his words, of Menachem Daum, a New York television producer whose parents were both Holocaust survivors. More →

August 3, 2001

Missionary work is something of a rite of passage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over the course of 18 months to two years, young men and women will work 16 hours a day, six days a week. On average, each one will convert ten persons during that period. But with 60,000 missionaries in the field, that is enough to produce 300,000 new converts a year. More →

August 3, 2001