The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of six million Tibetan Buddhists, is touring the U.S. to rally support for freedom for his homeland, taken over by China 40 years ago. His visit comes at a time of growing frustration among his people. He preaches compassion, even for Tibet's Chinese rulers, but some ...

A 1998 Perspective on one man's view of the continuing struggle between religion and science. Sir John Polkinghorne is both a world-class physicist and an Anglican priest who says science can explain only part of what's real.

Previously, we told the story of Abdul Alim Mubarak, a Muslim, a CNN videotape editor, who lives in New Jersey, as he said good-bye to his family and took off for Saudi Arabia on his first religious pilgrimage, the hajj. Now, we have the story of Mubarak's hajj, reported by our correspondent Anisa ...

At the Passover Seder table, Jews read from a guide called the Haggadah, which tells the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt. Rabbi Judith Halevy of the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue in California is our storyteller, updating the familiar tale with the story of Miriam, Moses' sister. LILITH magazine editor Susan Weidman Schneider invited us to her Seder to help tell the women's story.

Holy Week events begin with honoring the entry of Jesus Christ into the city of Jerusalem and end at his resurrection. R&E's story of Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and is told by three narrators: Monsignor John Meier of Catholic University in Washington; Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest in Georgia; and Reverend Charles Adams of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit.

Church historian Martin Marty seems to be just about everywhere. He studies the impact of religion on health, travels around the country to explore religion where it's practiced, writes columns and reviews, and more. But perhaps Marty's greatest contribution has been as teacher, what he refers to as his true calling. The energetic pastor is booked two years ahead and scheduled to a minute, using every spare moment of his time.

On April 5, Muslims around the world will begin observing events associated with the annual hajj, one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. Millions are converging on Mecca, located near the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Anisa Mehdi accompanies one American pilgrim as he says good-bye to his ...

Women are a mainstay in black churches, except in the pulpit. Will the "stained-glass ceiling" limit the careers of the record numbers of women entering divinity schools?

One of the key issues facing Lithuania's new president Valdas Adamkus is strong international criticism that Lithuania hasn't done enough to bring Nazi collaborators to justice. The presence of these alleged war criminals continues to haunt Lithuania's remaining Jewish community.

The Islamic Saudi Academy in Loudoun County, Virginia, outside Washington, DC, is creating controversy with its plan for a new campus.

Western Christians begin the 40 day Lenten season with a priest making the sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads. Rev. William Tully of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York talks about the significance of the ashes and of Lent.

There's a 10-mile-long stretch of New Hampshire Avenue in Maryland lined with churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques. Located just outside Washington D.C., it's literally a drive-by tour of America's new religious landscape, strikingly diverse.

Marianne Williamson blends Christian ideas and language with eastern philosophy and a hip attitude. She emphasizes direct, personal experiences of the sacred outside any organized religious tradition. Williamson's teachings about spirituality have touched millions of seekers and also caused many traditional believers to ask, "What is her appeal?"

In her popular lectures and in her book, THE HEALING OF AMERICA, Marianne Williamson discusses a spiritual reawakening taking place in America. According to Williamson, this is the result of the baby boomers emergence from a spiritual hibernation. As she sees it, many who were young in the 1960s are now ready to apply spirituality to politics.

British painter Stanley Spencer saw God in everything and painted biblical scenes set in his small hometown of Cookham. Now, for the first time in its history, Washington, DC's Hirshhorn Museum is presenting an exhibit on Spencer and his religious art.

The Church of the Savior was founded in 1947 by an ex-paratroop chaplain, Gordon Cosby, his wife Mary, and five others. It settled in a large house in Washington, D.C., and its members' first priority was total commitment to Christian life. Although it's never had more than 130 members, many church historians say it's become one of the most admired places of worship in the country.

Alarmed by the proliferation of hate Web sites available on the Internet, the Anti-Defamation League sponsored a symposium in Washington, D.C. to address the concern. Joined by representatives of America Online, the ADL called for new warnings and guidelines for online content. However, controlling the content on the internet and, who views it, without violating individual rights is a hard task.

How does a 64-year-old mother of seven, a contributing editor of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, an author and religious book expert much in demand for interviews and speeches, on the road about half the time keep her balance? Mrs. Tickle believes in theological roots and she respects Christian, New Age, and other kinds of spirituality.

For Jews, the High Holy Day of Yom Kippur is a day of atonement. R&E discussed the meaning of the holiday with Blu Greenberg and Rabbi Joel Tessler. Greenberg, an Orthodox Jew from Rippendale, New York, is a writer and advocate of greater opportunity for women within Orthodoxy. Rabbi Tessler is ...

Just outside Washington, DC, there's a 10-mile-long stretch of New Hampshire Avenue. It's lined with houses of worship: churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques. It's been called the Highway to Heaven. It's literally a drive-by tour of America's new religious landscape, strikingly diverse.