U.S. religious belief has been more resilient than in other modernized, affluent countries. Still, weekly churchgoing pales compared with Poland.

From Alpha to Omega, this is bluegrass of the highest order, our reviewer says.

No topic is out of bounds for the theologian.

Are believers encouraging mockery of their own beliefs?

Some years ago I spent a morning in an MRI machine, looking at an image of the Blessed Virgin, while being periodically electrocuted by a team of Oxford neuroscientists. They were investigating whether religious devotion really does help believers to endure suffering. (Think of St. Lawrenc

Editor’s note: The historic interview with Pope Francis (Am. 9/30) has generated a great deal of dialogue in the church and in society at large. We asked several writers to offer their reactions to the pope’s words. Selections from these responses are printed below. The full versions of

What "I am a sinner" tells us about who Pope Francis is.

Priorities for the next pope

Psalms 14 and 53 both open with the statement: “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’” Whatever this may tell us about unbelief in ancient Hebrew society, today it is not only, or predominantly, fools who are saying this. And they do not restrict their utterances to t