Killing the Buddha

Travels in China, on the trail of American Buddhism.

Oscar Bettison’s O Death: A Requiem Masque for Six Players as out-of-body experience.

A new book probes the modern meaning of ancient heresy.

Keep on truckin’ in the Garden of Eden.

Why the new Dan Brown book is a love letter to the Freemasons.

High hopes for the first woman’s Times Square debut.

Testing the limits of tolerance on a psychic’s new book.

A new BBC documentary introduces the gospel’s most adorable foot soldier.

Lust and love in the Mennonite Church.

What’s so good about Good Friday, anyway?

Forget the standard litany of the best-selling books and most popular movies…

If the Religious Left is to lift, everyone counts — the soccer moms and sex workers, the cowboy preachers and radical faeries, and you.

In Marilynne Robinson’s new novel, forgiveness and grace come wrapped in a custard pie.

Is there a nice way to call someone a fool? Sam Harris doesn’t think so.
A review of his new book, Letter to a Christian Nation.

When an outsider goes to church on the Fourth of July, fireworks follow.

Ira Louvin, a drunkard, a brute, and one half of Elvis’ favorite gospel duo, sang in a tenor that pioneered the place of sin close to the heart of country music. A 6/6/6 special from the KtB archive.

For Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, it’s alright to get a little dirty, so long as you know which detergent will get your karma clean.