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As coronavirus curtails travel, backyard pilgrimages become the way to a...
COVID-19 is changing how people go on pilgrimages.conceptual,fashion,advertising/Moment via Getty ImagesMany major religious pilgrimages have been canceled or curtailed in an effort to contain the...
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Indigenous Mexicans turn inward to survive COVID-19, barricading villages and...
Zapotec farmers return from their 'milpa,' the garden plots that provide much of the communities' food, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Jeffrey H. Cohen, CC BY-SAWhile the coronavirus hammers Mexico, some...
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Freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from mask mandates
Some church members have no problem wearing masks; others say it's an unconstitutional mandate.Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty ImagesMask mandates do not violate the...
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John Lewis and the masks Black preachers wear on the public stage
Rep. John Lewis attends church services at Brown Chapel AME Church in SelmaBrooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty ImagesU.S. Congressman John Robert Lewis was a Black preacher, inescapably so.Like his...
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The belief that demons have sex with humans runs deep in Christian and Jewish...
Incubus, a male demon, was said to prey on sleeping women in mythological tales.Walker, Charles: The encyclopedia of secret knowledgeHouston physician and pastor Stella Immanuel – described as...
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Israel suspends formal annexation of the West Bank, but its controversial...
Israeli security forces clash with a Palestinian protesting the construction of Jewish settlements and a 'separation wall,' village of Ramallah, West Bank, Aug. 7, 2020. Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via...
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The ethical case for allowing medical trials that deliberately infect humans...
Could intentionally infecting volunteers in COVID-19 trials speed up a vaccine?AP Photo/Ted S. WarrenDespite the urgent need to beat COVID-19, health officials may be delaying the development of an...
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'Historic' Israel deal won't likely bring peace to the Middle East
These Palestinians aren't happy with Trump's Israel deal, which required Israel to make no territorial concessions. Gaza, Aug. 16, 2020.Mahmoud Issa/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)The...
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Hagia Sophia has been converted back into a mosque, but the veiling of its...
People pray inside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, with sail-like drapes covering mosaic figures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.AP Photo/Yasin AkgulEver since the reversion of Hagia Sophia back into a...
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Suffragists used hunger strikes as a powerful tool of resistance – a tactic...
Suffragists march from New York to Washington D.C. in 1913.AP PhotoAsylum seekers held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in California have launched a series of hunger strikes to...
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Schools looking for space could turn to churches to host classes – doing so...
Children evacuated from U.K. cities in WWII were taught in churches.Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesCould places of worship ease the burden of schools looking to reopen while giving students space to social...
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Yes, God can be hurt, but not in the way Trump claims, according to theologians
God creating night and day.Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesPresident Trump claimed recently that the prospect of a Biden presidency would “hurt God.” More specifically, he said, Biden would be...
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Parents of bereaved children are also heroes of the pandemic – they can help...
A father adjusts his daughter's face mask outside the White HouseSarah Silbiger/Getty ImagesThe death of a parent is one of the most traumatic events that can happen to a child. Sadly, during the...
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Challenge trials for a coronavirus vaccine are unethical – except for in one...
There's a faster way to complete vaccine trials, but is it ethical?Skaman306/Moment via Getty ImagesThe world urgently needs a vaccine for COVID-19. Only when a vaccine is approved and people are safe...
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In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, what should you say to someone who...
A "no mask, no taco" sign at Chelsea Market in New York city.Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty ImagesMultiple studies have shown that masks reduce the transmission of virus-loaded droplets from people...
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Forced sterilization policies in the US targeted minorities and those with...
An operation taking place in 1941 on South Side of Chicago.Library of CongressIn August 1964, the North Carolina Eugenics Board met to decide if a 20-year-old Black woman should be sterilized. Because...
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What makes Donald Trump and John Wayne heroes of the Christian Right?
Faith leaders pray with President Donald Trump during a rally for evangelical supporters in Miami in January 2020.AP Photo/Lynne SladkyThe Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic...
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What the Falwell saga tells us about evangelicals and gender roles
A Falwell from grace for Jerry and Becki?Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesJerry Falwell Jr. may well be wishing that a photo with his underwear showing and his arm around the waist of a woman not his wife was...
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Afghanistan's peace process is stalled. Can the Taliban be trusted to hold up...
Afghan security personnel inspect the rubble of Afghanistan's intelligence services building after a car bomb blast claimed by the Taliban killed at least 11 people, July 13, 2020. AFP via Getty...
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Jerry Falwell Jr. will leave behind a very different legacy from his...
Jerry Falwell Jr., right, during commencement ceremonies at Liberty University in May 2017.AP Photo/Steve HelberJerry Falwell Jr., son and namesake of the founder of the evangelical Moral Majority...
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