Religion
The Political Scene Podcast
Joe Biden, the Second Catholic President
Paul Elie considers the influence of the President’s faith on his policy, and how Biden might bring “moral authority” to a Church damaged by decades of abuse scandals.
Annals of Geography
How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change
Molly Burhans wants the Catholic Church to put its assets—which include farms, forests, oil wells, and millions of acres of land—to better use. But, first, she has to map them.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
William Barber, and the Question of Faith and Politics
The prominent liberal pastor talks about bringing religious principles back into policy. And we consider how Biden’s Catholic faith might affect his leadership.
Daily Comment
Can Joe Biden Save American Catholicism from the Far Right?
Biden is the kind of flexible, independent-minded Catholic whom many bishops have spent their careers taking to task—and many progressive Catholics see as akin to themselves.
Books
What Thomas Jefferson Could Never Understand About Jesus
Jefferson revised the Gospels to make Jesus more reasonable, and lost the power of his story.
A Reporter at Large
When One Parent Leaves a Hasidic Community, What Happens to the Kids?
The irreconcilable differences between Orthodoxy and secularism increasingly end up in court.
Daily Comment
What the New Vatican Report Shows About the Church’s Failures in Addressing Sexual Abuse
The example of Theodore McCarrick demonstrates the Church’s inability to deal with abuse in frank, clear terms.
Shouts & Murmurs
Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses, as E-mailed by Your Passive-Aggressive Co-Worker
Not to be that guy, and most of this is totally not a big deal, but I just wanted to take a moment to communicate my disappointment with a few things I’ve noticed occurring at the Church lately.
Books
Does Knowing God Just Take Practice?
For both the faithful and the doubtful, the source of religious experience can seem mysterious. One anthropologist explores belief in more mundane terms—as a form of expertise.
Daily Comment
How Trump and Barr are Benefitting from the Catholic Right’s Consolidation of Power
Conservative Catholicism’s embrace of the President and his Administration points to an argument that the movement’s lofty political philosophy is prone, in practice, to sponsor a kind of autocracy.
Profiles
Marilynne Robinson’s Essential American Stories
The author of “Housekeeping,” “Gilead,” and, now, “Jack” looks to history not just for the origins of America’s ailments but for their remedy, too.
Keeping the Faith Dept.
A New Rabbi Schleps Through the Village to Meet Her Flock
Shvitzing in a tallis and a leopard-print mask, Diana Fersko does her Shabbat Walk, greeting the faithful on stoops and in lobbies.
Under Review
American Christianity’s White-Supremacy Problem
History, theology, and culture all contribute to the racist attitudes embedded in the white church.
On Religion
How Black Lives Matter Is Changing the Church
Brenda Salter McNeil used to think that it was not the place of a pastor to talk about systemic racism. Ferguson changed her mind.
Our Local Correspondents
The Renegade Priest Helping Undocumented People Survive the Pandemic
Juan Carlos Ruiz, a Mexican pastor in Brooklyn, does everything from human-rights advocacy to grocery delivery.
Fiction
Jack and Della
Under Review
Is There a Religious Left?
Why progressive activism rooted in faith is so often misconstrued.
On Religion
Will the Coronavirus Be the End of the Communion Cup?
Technically, Catholic churches do not need to offer their congregants consecrated wine, but the practice of sharing it is considered a “more perfect form of participation.”
Photo Booth
How a Megachurch Adapted to Social Distancing
Mark Peterson’s images of a drive-in service at a Virginia Beach megachurch feel both wholly of the coronavirus pandemic and wholly retro.
On Religion
The Plight of a Hospital Chaplain During the Coronavirus Pandemic
How do you comfort the suffering when you’re not allowed in the room?