Thai Buddhism involves daily rituals and collective acts of worship, unlike the individual-focused emphasis on meditation often found in Western Buddhist communities.
Articles on Sacred
Displaying all articles
Native religions are tied to living landscapes, not points on a map. A scholar of Indigenous studies explains why reducing the protected area has profound religious and cultural consequences.
Generative AI’s overemphasis on Western moral concerns could reinforce global disparities in sensitive applications such as public health messaging and global communication.
Anime characters often face challenges that connect to long-standing Buddhist and Shintō teachings. In this course, students look closely at what anime is saying about life.
On Flag Day, a historian of religions in America explains how the Pledge of Allegiance, which honors the American flag, is part of American civil religion.
Rites of passage are important. They do not merely celebrate the transition to a new state – they actively create this new state in the eyes of society, an anthropologist writes.
A Christian Palestinian human rights scholar who grew up in Bethlehem writes about the special time of Easter, but also about the restrictions on Palestinian Christians.
Ramadan encourages acts of charity. This also poses a question for many Muslims as they consider what more could be done to feed the hungriest in the world, many of whom are in Gaza.
Two scholars who study death rituals explain that the corpse is considered spiritually polluting in many religious traditions, while the Moon holds a sacred place.
A religion scholar argues that the communal nature of Islamic pilgrimage helps worshippers go through a physically demanding schedule and creates camaraderie that continues beyond the pilgrimage.
People are increasingly identifying less with religious tradition and are looking for meaning and identity in the things they love most.
For Wiccans, midsummer, with the maximum hours of sunlight, is the time for celebrating new life.
Young Haredim men, who are strictly observant Jews, have long been exempted from Israel’s compulsory military service. A disagreement over stopped Netanyahu from forming a government.
Last Friday, Muslims were killed while praying at two mosques in New Zealand. For Muslims, Friday is the day of gathering, the most important prayer day of the week.
Emile Durkheim helped to lay the foundations of sociological thought and theory. He spoke of our current condition as being influenced by social structures and institutions.
The enquiry into sacredness is not over, it’s just beginning for the 21st century, and in wildly disparate modes and places. In music, Nick Cave, Hozier and Dr G. Yunupingu have led the way.
Crop circles are global phenomena gaining attention as paranormal culture becomes mainstream, along with a hybrid approach that emulates scientific investigation.
The Shakers prioritized harmony and a simple lifestyle. They were among the earliest proponents of gender equality.
‘I deeply believe that design will meet its true promise when designers engage in design for the sacred.’
Top contributors
-
Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
-
Personal Chair, Literary Studies, Deakin University
-
Associate Professor, Design Anthropology, Swinburne University of Technology
-
Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo
-
Executive Director, Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, and Teaching Professor of Teaching Professor of Islam and Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
-
Doctoral Candidate in Religious Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
-
Lecturer, San José State University
-
PhD Candidate in Social Psychology, UMass Amherst
-
Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Berkeley
-
Professor, Department of Global Studies, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
-
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut
-
Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Rhodes College
-
Affliated Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University
-
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Florida International University
-
Assistant Professor of Religion, California Lutheran University