When I started studying sociology of religion, one of the interesting human activities I found is what anthropologists call “rites of intensification.” These activities have been found by ...

(The Conversation) — When the 5,300-year-old mummy of Ötzi the Iceman was found 30 years ago, researchers found 61 tattoos on it. A scholar explains how tattoos have been a sacred part of many ...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's soaring water pollution is threatening the religious rites of its tight-knit Mandaean community, already devastated by 15 years of war that has also affected the country's other ...

Samantha Prabhu and Raj Nidimoru's Bhuta Shuddhi Vivaha explained -- a sacred yogic wedding ritual that purifies the five ...

Thank God, Allah has long had a diet that is good for humans both physically and spiritually. That diet is found in the Torah and in the Qur’an. Over many centuries the various legal schools have ...

Spiritual leaders are called upon to officiate at a variety of celebrations — baptisms, bat and bar mitzvahs, weddings — and, of course, services marking the upcoming religious holidays. This week’s ...

For many Americans, the flag isn’t just a national emblem — it carries a level of reverence, ritual, and emotional power ...

WASHINGTON — Anyone who has ever owned a pet understands Jill Shaffer’s deep sentiments for her cat, Della. She got Della just before her divorce 14 years ago. When she was lonely or ill, her “flabby ...

Neanderthals left behind various clues about their enigmatic lives. But less is known about their spiritual sides. Some ...

In this Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018 photo, followers of the ancient Mandaean religious sect perform their rituals along a strip of embankment on the Tigris River reserved for them, in Baghdad, Iraq.

Ötzi the Iceman remained hidden to the world for millennia until two German tourists discovered it 30 years ago in a glacier in the Italian Alps. This 5,300-year-old mummy is not only perhaps Europe’s ...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Every Sunday in Iraq, along a strip of embankment on the Tigris River reserved for followers of the obscure and ancient Mandaean faith, worshippers bathe themselves in the waters to ...