Happy Rohatsu!
Celebrate Buddha's enlightenment and
Birth of the Bab
Who is the Bab? By Kathleen K. Lehman
Sukkot
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
By Emily Bazelon
By Lisa Schamess
By Jane Litman Baha'i
Buddhism
Christianity
Earth Based
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism
Cultural/ Spiritual
Other Religions
Christmas
A Mormon Christmas
After I converted to Mormonism, would I have to give up beloved wintertime rituals?
by Linda Kimball
Musical selections:
The Breda Cathedral Boys Choir
Santa Claus Was a Shaman
The long history of the man in red who comes bearing gifts
by John and Caitlin Matthews
Season's E-Greetings
Forget the mailman. The Internet is the hottest--and fastest--way to send your holiday cards
Candlelight
How our Advent wreath helps us stop time
by Jean Fitzpatrick
Come, Lord Jesus
Advent calm amid Christmas frenzy
by Christine Whittaker
Celebrating the Nativity Orthodox-Style
Western Holiday Traditions in an Eastern Faith
by Father John Mack
No Chipmunks, Please, We're Orthodox
The benefits of an Old Calendar Christmas
by Philip Kontos
'I Do in Part Believe It'
Shakespeare and the spiritual schizophrenia of Christmas
by Harvey Cox
Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa Reflection
Celebrating the 'first fruits of the harvest'
by Eric Copage
The Kwanzaa Karamu
Maulana (Ron) Karenga's suggested way to conduct a Kwanzaa Karamu, as elaborated by Cedric McCleser
by Eric Copage
What You Need on Your Table to Celebrate Kwanzaa
by Eric Copage
The Seven Kwanzaa Principles
by Eric Copage
Ramadan
Armoring the Heart
My first Ramadan fast taught me self-control and empathy
by Michael Wolfe
Helping Kids Keep the Fast
In December, self-denial is a hard sell
by Imam Khalid Fattah Griggs
New Year's
When the Party's Over
The man who 'discovered' the millennium is ready for a less apocalyptic gig.
By Arthur Magida
The Millenium is a Fraud
People from the Pope on down are using it for their own ends.
By Andrew Greeley
A Jewish Agenda for the New Millennium
It may not be a Jewish event, but there's no escaping the millennium's psychic impact.
By Rami Shapiro
Marking the Millennium
A scholar explains why millennialism is the secret to Western culture's success.
By Richard Landes
An Illuminating Millennial Resolution
Making enlightenment a priority
by Lama Surya Das
A New Twist on an Old Problem
New Year's Eve falls on Friday night, leaving observant Jews to figure out how to observe both
by Ira Rifkin
Will God Help You With Your New Year's Resolutions?
Not unless you 'apply elbow greese to your dreams'
by T.D. Jakes
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
The Limits of 'Turn the Other Cheek'
Gandhi had it wrong; Martin Luther King had it right
by Joseph Telushkin
What Would Jesus Think of King's Protests?
New scholarship about "turning the other cheek"
by Marcus Borg
The Distance that Remains
Although blacks and Jews have made strides recently, there's a long way to go to fulfill Martin Luther King's vision of unity
by Rabbi Marc Schneier
King in His Own Words:
Valentine's Day
Who Took the 'St.' Away from St. Valentine?
Except for his association with lovers, this martyr at best had only a shadowy existence on the Catholic calendar
by Charlotte Allen
Giving from the Heart
This Valentine's Day, give your honey a real gift
by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
A Jewish View of Valentine's Day
Or, how I stopped worrying and learned to love February 14
by Debra B. Darvick
Safe Sex Isn't Always Safe for the Soul
Women and men deserve a relationship based on self-sacrificial love, not one where sex is used as a bargaining chip
by Deborah Belonick
Saints Valentine
Bouquets of love for my Mormon friends
by Linda Hoffman Kimball
St. Patrick's Day
Sighting Irish
Their distinctive brand of Catholicism is fading from the American scene, but their legacy endures
by Terry Golway
Holi
A Day of Play
Water balloons, squirtguns and plenty of old clothes are central to celebrating Holi, Hinduism's festival of colors
by Hema Nair
Purim
Remembering Haman's Roots
In the modern world, fighting Amalek--Haman's nation--means fighting for the weak and vulnerable
by Wendy Amsellem
A New Stage of Revelation
Purim, with its reluctant heroine and moral ambiguity, is the perfect holiday for the post-Holocaust world
by Rabbi Irving Greenberg
Cutting Loose on Purim
by Rabbi Sandy Sasso
Who Wants to Marry the King of Persia?
On Purim, we remember an earlier version of the recent television special. Only this time, the ending is quite different
by Andrew Silow-Carroll
Are You in the Purim Spirit?
Take this quiz to find out
Lent & Holy Week
How Come? On Giving It Up for Lent
by Kenneth Briggs
A Path of Death That Leads to Life
In Jesus' time, the cross was as clear a symbol of execution as today's electric chair. So what does 'taking up the cross' mean?
by Marcus Borg
For Latino Catholics, Lent Is a Time to Confront Suffering
In a world obsessed with avoiding pain, Hispanic spirituality sees, through Jesus' Passion, that it can be redemptive
by Sister Yolanda Tarango, C.C.V.I.
How Come? Why do Christians Wear Smudge Marks on Ash Wednesday?
by Kenneth Briggs
Journey Into Orthodox Christian Lent
The Orthodox Church's 'Rite of Forgiveness' is an exhilarating kick-start for a time that will just get harder
by Frederica Mathewes-Green
Lenten Loopholes
In these veggie-friendly times, how can we avoid breaking the spirit of a fast when keeping the letter of the law is so easy?
by Philip Kontos
Saying Yes to Soy
An Orthodox Christian's Guide to Lenten Fasting
The Second Sunday of Great Lent
Hymns, readings for the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas
Orthodox Palm Sunday
Hymns, readings and icon for the last Sunday in Great Lent
Holy Week Prayers
Selected hymns from this week's services
Holy Week, a Time of Reconciliation
Christian Holy Week and Jewish Passover could represent a closing of the doors against the public world
by Martin E. Marty
Pontius Pilate's Not-So-Good Friday
Jesus and the Roman governor lived in two different universes. No wonder John's Gospel has him asking, "What is truth?'
by Ann Wroe
A Living Icon of Faith
Each year on Holy Friday, a woman with Down's syndrome lived the tragic mystery of the Passion as most of us never can
by Father John Breck
All Jesus, All the Time
Six nights of religious programming for Holy Week
Passover
An Interactive Seder Plate
A Passover Renaissance
The seder is the most-observed Jewish ritual of the year, and the ways of doing a seder are always changing
By J.J. Goldberg
Dayenu! A Comparison of Passover Haggadah Editions
Proving that had the Haggadah been written--but translated only once--it would not have been sufficient
The First Question
Why is this Easter meal different from last night's seder?
By Arthur Magida
A Nation Apart
The Exodus couldn't occur until the Israelites understood their distinctiveness
By Wendy Amsellem
The Matzah Mitzvah
Why we don't eat unleavened bread all the time
By Rodger Kamenetz
Passover Hypocrisy
Jews should heed the words they mouth at the seder
by Michael Lerner
Celebrate Passover: Passover Songs to Treasure
Are you ready for Passover songs with new twists?
The Heart of the Holidays
New children's books for Easter and Passover
Easter
Complete Easter Package
Rising to the Occasion
Resurrection isn't a revival of somebody once dead back into the same form of life they had before. It's much more
By Ben Witherington III
Can I Believe?
Faith does not necessarily come when called. Only when needed
By Christine Wicker
Christianity's Sexiest Saint
Mary of Magdala was the first to learn that Christ had risen. Feminists now look to her as they hope for other firsts
By Heidi Schlumpf
My Baptismal Robe: A Twisted Tale
My reception into the church at Easter was a solemn event--until the priest put my head into an armhole
By Meghan Cox Gurdon
