Religion
April 2026
JD Vance announces a new memoir about his conversion to Catholicism
The vice-president’s follow-up to Hillbilly Elegy is announced as speculation builds over a 2028 run to succeed Trump
March 2026
My mom, the cult leader: ‘She told us what to wear, when to pray, how we would have sex. We were prisoners’
Deborah Green was a charismatic woman who established a ‘free love ministry’ in California, claiming to be a vessel for God. She was also a controlling, cruel sadist. Her daughter Sarah talks about her terrifying upbringing – and dramatic escape- AI for the peopleI asked AI about God. It asked me about myself insteadIn week four of Rhik Samadder’s diary, our resident AI skeptic turned to HolyGPT to ask the ultimate question of why we are here
Solidarity by Rowan Williams review – what does it really mean to stand by someone?
The former archbishop delves deep into a word that is easy to use on social media, but hard to follow through on
January 2026
They tried to smear him as an antisemite – but Mayor Zohran Mamdani walks in a rich Jewish tradition
Molly CrabappleWhen I look at Mamdani, I don’t see some radical departure. I see him as an heir to the Yiddish socialism that helped build New York
December 2025
Truth in fantasy: what Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials taught us over its 30-year run
Converts by Melanie McDonagh review – roads to Rome
- Home truthsIn this fractured and frightening world, one mantra my parents gave me calls me
Tired of being a woman in 2025? Why not become a nun …
Emma Beddington
November 2025
- Other livesMaureen McGinley obituaryOther lives: Nun who spent much of her life working to support people with HIV and Aids in Hong Kong
September 2025
‘I don’t want to stop believing in humanity’: Matthew McConaughey on faith, fame and the shocking incident that defined him
He was once so stoned he missed his own birthday party, but the Oscar-winning actor has swapped pot for poetry. He reveals the trauma and triumph that taught him why it’s more important to be a good man than a nice guy
August 2025
- Book of the dayChasing the Dark by Ben Machell review – the original ghostbusterAn entrancing biography of Tony Cornell, who displayed a scientist’s commitment to impartiality as he investigated the paranormal
July 2025
- Other livesThe Rev John Heywood Thomas obituary
‘Ephraim will know’: the man who buried 10,000 people has lessons on empathy, loss and the majesty of memory
June 2025
- Other livesPatricia Herbert obituaryOther lives: British Library curator and author of The Life of the Buddha
Fortress, sculpture or place of worship? A tour of Scotland’s modernist churches – in pictures
From brooding, brutalist boxes to Scandi-inspired circular affairs with curved confessional booths, these astonishing churches are often located off the beaten trackCambridge University appoints first Jewish professor of Hebrew
Prof Aaron Koller hopes to broaden appeal of Hebrew and move away from it being seen as ‘a political thing’
April 2025
Could I become a Christian in a year?
After two friends unexpectedly converted, Lamorna Ash discovered a new generation of young people turning to faith. As she investigated the phenomenon, one of her first steps was to spend a week on a working retreat on Iona. And then something strange happened…As a kid I hated Easter because nothing happened – now I treasure its stillness and strange beauty
Paul DaleyThe seasonal change brings in me a mellowness and a desire to reflect that feels somehow spiritual, albeit in a secular way- Book of the dayChopping Onions on My Heart by Samantha Ellis review – can you save a culture?A woman tries to cling on to her parent’s Judeo-Arabic language – and the food, feeling and history that goes with it