Belief

As anti-vax plaintiffs seek faith-based exemptions, the judicial system will renew its struggle to determine what beliefs are truly “sincerely held.”

With all organized religions supporting vaccination, states may question the sincerity of those claiming exemptions from getting vaccinated.

Reflection on the importance of sex in the spiritual redemption narratives that riveted the American public.

The rhetoric about abortion being the catalyst for the rise of the Religious Right collapses under scrutiny.

Conspiracy theories like QAnon are ultimately a social problem rather than a cognitive one. We should blame politics, not the faulty reasoning of individuals.

An excerpt from the new anthology, “American Cult.”

How did a radical social activist, killed for his politics, become the figurehead of capitalist and imperial power?

A literary examination of Henry David Thoreau's life and legacy today.

'In God We Trust' became the national motto of the US on July 30, 1956. Since then, it has been used to forward a conservative Christian agenda.

"What makes this conspiracy theory so damaging is its adaptability."

A new book shows how southern evangelicals looked to the Bible to justify their opposition to racial integration.

On the Shakers and Catholics who found love and friendship in early America.

Apparently some people communed with spirits to locate the first underground oil reserves.

When the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith ran for president, he wasn’t seeking further glory but a policy change in religious liberty.

Omar ibn Said was captured in Senegal at 37 and enslaved in Charleston. A devout Muslim, he later converted to the Christian faith of his enslavers. Or did he?

Although they have different beliefs, eugenicists and evangelicals have historically worked together to further a joint agenda.

Reflections on "A Love Supreme," artistic transformation, and the Black Arts Movement.

The Puritans had little tolerance for those who didn't conform to their vision of the world.

In a book and documentary series, Henry Louis Gates Jr. offers a wide-ranging tour of Black religion in America.

"The Dead are Arising" may be the best Malcolm X biography yet. But its author seems unsure of how to write about a religion outside the American mainstream.

Former followers of an evangelical “purity” movement that promoted a strict view of abstinence are grappling with aftershocks.

Its embrace of an ignominious president is forcing a long-overdue reckoning with the movement’s embrace of white supremacy and illiberal politics.

The peculiarities of how American Christianity took shape help explain believers’ vulnerability to conspiratorial thinking and misinformation.

Are the evangelicals who voted for Trump and stormed the Capitol in his defense part of the fringe of evangelicalism, or the core?

What they can teach us about what to expect.

In the 19th century, Purim became an occasion to hold parties to raise money for charities. These parties helped American Jews gain a standing among the elite.

White evangelicals have long been attracted to the conservative media's militant politics and regressive gender roles.

Nostalgia is not merely reductive; it is also productive.

How 150 years of apocalyptic agitation culminated in an insurrection.

Historian John Turner tells the story of Plymouth Colony with nuance and care.