Category: Fading Faith

The sea of faith Was once, too, at the full, and round Earth’s shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating. . . . — Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach” A historic transition is occurring, barely noticed. Slowly, quietly, imperceptibly, religion is shriveling …

To believers in God, our universe must look like it is a product of intelligence. Sometimes this leads to varieties of creationism, as in the current intelligent-design movement. But advocates of divine design need not object to evolution. They can argue that intelligence manifests itself at a deeper level. Some say that we live in …

In the third and final part of this series, Lisa Bauer explains how the combination of her devotion to Islam and certain characteristics of her personality almost destroyed her. —Eds. Countless commentators have offered general reasons for objecting to Islam—it’s misogynistic, medieval, theocratic, and so on. I agree, and one can read innumerable critiques along …

Shortly before Valentine’s Day 2009, a devout Hindu group known as Lord Ram’s Army invaded a bar in Mangalore in India’s Karnataka State and proceeded to drag women out by their hair and beat them up for the sin of flirtatiousness. “We are the citizens of this nation,” said the group’s founder, “and I feel …