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Belief

Three decorated elephants adorned with colorful ornaments and gold headdresses stand in a sheltered area with attendants nearby.

Mechanical elephants replace real ones for ceremonies in South India

Lifestyle & Belief

Elephants have been important for Hindu rituals for centuries, but in response to campaigns by animal rights activists, human-elephant conflict and the captive mammals’ declining numbers, artists in India are now creating mechanical elephants as replacements.

A group of Buddhist monks in traditional robes walking along a roadside, followed by a white sheriff's vehicle. A woman in a white coat is kneeling on the grass, paying respects to the monks as they pass by. The sky is clear and blue, indicating a sunny day.

Buddhist monks on national Walk for Peace receive flowers, tears and gratitude along a NC highway

Lifestyle & Belief

Shinto forest bathing as an antidote to global crises

Lifestyle & Belief

Evangelical churches flourish among Indigenous communities in Ecuador

Sacred Nation

In one of the world’s most secular countries, some Gen Z Christians are finding faith again — but not at church

Sacred Nation

A rapper finds peace and a channel for his activism through hip-hop and Islam

Sacred Nation

Brother Ali hit fame for his hard-hitting critique of racism and inequality in the US. His rap songs mix the political with the personal. Today, the rapper is in Istanbul on a spiritual journey as a Muslim. He says his political views are making it harder for him to get his music out there.

Tibetans in Massachusetts celebrate 14th Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday

Sacred Spaces

Ahead of his 90th birthday, the Dalai Lama announced that he will be reborn after he dies, and that the Tibetan Buddhist community based in India that he leads will have sole authority in finding his reincarnation. As The World’s Matthew Bell reports, this sets the stage for a dispute with China.

‘Objects hold energy’: Author posits that British Museum in London is full of ghosts

Conflict & Justice

When author and artist Noah Angell heard rumors that the British Museum in London was haunted, he set about documenting ghost stories that were circulating among the museum’s staff in his book, “Ghosts of the British Museum: A True Story of Colonial Loot and Restless Objects.”

Holy Catholic relics from shuttered institutions are preserved on a New York campus

Sacred Spaces

As Catholic establishments shut down across North America, holy relics once housed inside them are making their way to Manhattan University, where they’re being collected and preserved for the faithful.

As Catholic faith ebbs in Spain, missionary priests come to the rescue

Sacred Nation

Spain exported Christianity across the world through missionary expeditions, but as the religion dwindles across Europe, parishes are increasingly reliant on priests from abroad — a trend some call “reverse missions.”