A Global Peril: The state of religious freedom today
All believers need to recognize how our own traditions have helped fuel conflicts.
Islamic Awakening: An ancient faith encounters modernity
While the Catholic Church eventually left Christendom behind, ‘Islamdom’ still predominates among the world’s Muslim thinkers.
How Vietnam respects and protects religious freedom has implications beyond its own borders
Religion in Vietnam today looks markedly different than it did 40 years ago.
How the Catholic Church took religious liberty from the sacristy to the street
The church’s evolving understanding of religious liberty.
Catholics on the front lines of religious freedom advocacy
“When persecution happens in Nigeria, Pakistan or Iraq, it is not happening to ‘others.’
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Justice Scalia should be remembered for his capacity for friendship.
Letters
Reply All: America’s readers weigh in
Join the conversation
Editorials
Editors: International religious freedom worthy of every believer‘s concern
Moving from documenting these violations to correcting them represents a Herculean task.
Faith in Focus
Centered by Prayer: Living as a Catholic in a Muslim world
Living as a Catholic in a Muslim world
Books
Going Live
‘That’s the Way It Is,’ by Charles L. Ponce de Leon
Movements Of Faith
‘Structures of Grace,’ by Kevin Ahern
Theater
Arguments With God: The spiritual side of two Broadway revivals
The spiritual side of two Broadway revivals
Poetry
The Burning Ladder
Jacobnever climbed the ladderburning in his dream. Sleeppressed him like a stonein the dust,and whenhe should have risenlike a flame to jointhat choir, he was sickof traveling,and closedhis eyes to the Seraphimascending, unconsciousof the impossible distancesbetween their steps,missedthem mount the
The Word
Gospel: The Home of Repentance
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you”
(Un)Conventional Wisdom
Criminal Politics: Will criminal justice reform reach across the aisle?
One effort that transcends party lines is criminal justice reform.
Columns
On Good Friday, contemplating the mystery of Christ’s two natures
How could someone be a human being and God at the same time? If we think that Jesus did not really suffer emotionally, physically and even spiritually on the cross, we may be less likely to turn to him in our own struggles.
Current Comment
How many deaths will it take to end for-profit prisons?
The problems with for-profit prisons are well documented.
On a Mission for Mercy
It is no coincidence that this commission coincided with the start of the Lenten season.
Abuse Commission Shake-up
Having the witness of survivors on the Vatican abuse commission is essential.
Faith
Lent’s just not what it used to be
As we drape the church in purple, we sharpen the will.
Philosopher's Notebook
Lent’s just not what it used to be
As we drape the church in purple, we sharpen the will.
Signs Of the Times
25 Years Later, Signs of Trouble in Los Angeles
Twenty-five years after the videotaped beating of Rodney King on March 3, 1991, caused a national sensation, little is reported about similar specific acts of police brutality in Los Angeles, which may very well be a sign of the progress that has been made.And yet shootings by police in Los Angeles
CSI: South Africa
The crime genre’s current popularity is an expression of a new political concern.
Lent Begins in Kenya
A prominent Kenyan bishop said Lent is a time to celebrate and experience God’s mercy, then donated clothing and food to more than 4,000 households in Ngong on behalf of the bishops’ conference. Bishop Cornelius Arap Korir of Eldoret called on Kenyans to forget their past experiences and
Coptic Kidnappings
More than 150 Coptic Christians took part in a sit-in convened on Sunday, Feb. 7, in front of the provincial administration office in Minya, Egypt, to bring to the attention of the authorities the case of an 18-year-old Coptic girl missing for several days. The family of the young woman, resident in
With Focus on ISIS, Boko Haram Rampage in Nigeria Continues
Recent attacks on civilians in Nigeria renew a grisly debate: Is Boko Haram the world’s deadliest terrorist group or should ISIS bear that odious distinction? Though it received relatively little press attention, in 2014 Boko Haram managed to kill far more people in its various rampages than I
Market Warning
Democracy and market economies go hand in hand but are risky and can be abused if they do not sustain human dignity and support the common good, according to a Vatican economic official. Joseph F. X. Zahra, a Maltese economist who is deputy coordinator of the Vatican Council for the Economy, spoke a
News Briefs
The U.S. bishops’ conference announced on Feb. 8 that it is launching a new National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue to be headed by Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago. • Just days before Pope Francis was scheduled to visit a prison in Ciudad Juárez, a brutal fight between rival factions on Feb
Vatican Dispatch
What Will Francis Say?
Francis could open doors in his Exhortation on the Family.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts