Articles tagged as Religion | Smithsonian Magazine

The Pope’s latest comments are not the first push from the Vatican to address global climate change

May 22, 2014

Cool Finds

This Facebook Page Allows Iranian Women to Share Selfies Sans Hijab

The anonymous photos are meant to inspire change

May 16, 2014

Monks lead a candlelight procession around the ordination hall during Vesak celebrations in rural Nakhon Nayok, Thailand.

Photos: Vesak, Buddha’s Birthday, As Celebrated All Across Southeast Asia

One of the holiest Buddhist holidays, Vesak marks the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha

May 14, 2014

Protesters in front of the Nigerian Embassy in London.

If let go, they have a good chance of being able to recover emotionally

May 12, 2014

At least 1.3 million people gathered for the canonization of two popes in Rome this weekend

April 28, 2014

From solidifying friendships to driving evil spirits away, legends abound about these sweet dough balls

April 17, 2014

Islamic extremists from the group Boko Haram have kidnapped 200 girls from a boarding school

April 17, 2014

New Research

The “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” Is Most Likely Not a Modern Fake

Chemical analyses show the text was written thousands of years ago

April 10, 2014

The Shroud of Turin's image is more consistent with this idea of crucifixion.

New Research

Some Visions of the Crucifixion Aren’t T-Shaped

Jesus and others who were crucified didn’t necessarily die with their arms pinned straight out, the way we often imagine them

April 7, 2014

Carcinogenic material was used as a finish coating in this painting.

New Research

Byzantine Monks Built Walls With Asbestos, Too

In millennia past, asbestos has also been used to make stronger pottery and flame-proof napkins

April 3, 2014

A fragment of the known Dead Sea Scrolls.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Had Forgotten About Nine of the Dead Sea Scrolls

For the past 60 years, these Dead Sea Scrolls had just been sitting around in a storeroom

March 18, 2014

Surface of Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Pathfinder

A group of imams in the UAE (the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment or GAIAE) have issued a fatwa prohibiting muslims from going to Mars

February 21, 2014

Your Weekly Sermons, Illustrated

Artist John Hendrix finds divine inspiration every Sunday when he goes to church

March 2014

Everybody is listening, but nobody is learning.

From the Scopes trial to last night’s Nye/Ham face-off, Americans love pointless creationism debates

February 5, 2014

New Research

Humans Are Naturally Inclined to Believe We’re Immortal

Even children who live in a culture with no beliefs about existence before birth have a concept of “pre-life”

January 29, 2014

Cool Finds

How Medieval People Decided Whether Sex Was Acceptable or Not

Spoiler alert: your sex is definitely Medievally sinful

January 24, 2014

The World’s Third Oldest Bible, the Codex Washingtonianus, Is Making a Rare Museum Appearance

When the Codex was first published publicly in 1912, it caused a controversy because it contained an extra passage in the Gospel of Mark

January 2, 2014

Saint Coronatus joined a convent in Heiligkreuztal, Germany, in 1676

Switzerland

Meet the Fantastically Bejeweled Skeletons of Catholicism’s Forgotten Martyrs

Art historian and author Paul Koudounaris elucidates the macabre splendor and tragic history of Europe’s catacomb saints

October 1, 2013

What Urban Planners Can Learn From a Hindu Religious Festival

Every 12 years, one Indian city balloons from a few million residents to tens of millions. How does this happen with such ease?

September 2013

An Arab city of the early medieval period. Urban centers in the Middle East were of a size and wealth all but unknown in the Christian west during this period, encouraging the development of a large and diverse fraternity of criminals.

Islam’s Medieval Underworld

In the medieval period, the Middle East was home to many of the world’s wealthiest cities—and to a large proportion of its most desperate criminals

July 22, 2013