Religion
Is coffee-drinking the new secular religion?
In a whimsical discussion of our relationship with the beverage, Julian Baggini proposes ‘Coffeeism’ as a philosophy for everyday life
How to become a god: a user’s guide
Even the most Magaddicted Maga supporter might have had doubts about Donald Trump depicted as Jesus healing a sick man…
What’s really behind Trump’s clash with the Pope?
Donald Trump’s latest clash with the Catholic Church stunned even the most hardened veterans of culture-war X. According to the…
Letters: The uncomfortable truth about Gen Z churchgoers
Clerical errors Sir: Glad though I am that The Spectator bucks the trend in its conviction that the C of…
How to save our churches
Easter is being celebrated by millions of families across our country. It’s one of those moments when we should come…
Religion has been resurrected in British politics
British history is littered with elections and Elections. The first type, common or garden elections, are fought with prosaic issues…
Gen Z are turning to the Book of Common Prayer
‘No one pretends that modern services will fill the churches. But adult converts ought to be able to step naturally…
How Pope Leo XIV is quietly reshaping the Vatican
On the afternoon of Easter Sunday last year, Pope Francis was driven through St Peter’s Square in an open-topped Popemobile.…
Thoughtful fantasy: Travel Light, by Naomi Mitchison, reviewed
Borrowing from Arthuriana, Norse sagas, fairy tales and legends, Mitchison’s novel modulates midway between magic and realism
Why Leonard Cohen felt empowered to pronounce benedictions
The musician, who never really abandoned his Orthodox Jewish hinterland, took to heart the fact that being a kohen entitled him to dispense priestly blessings
What Catholics get wrong about assisted dying
The Catholic Church has always been remarkably relaxed about sin. It becomes distinctly jumpy, however, when it encounters any challenge…
My house is devouring me (and my relationship)
The panic of another season bore down on me as the builder boyfriend painted the breakfast room with the green…
My parents have driven us to boiling point
After two weeks of us heating the house to the temperature my nearly 90-year-old father wanted it, the door to…
The spiritual yearnings of David Bowie
Gnosticism was one of Bowie’s lifelong obsessions and the outer reaches of religious thought inspired many of his lyrics
At 53, I’m training to be a priest
I have recently begun training for holy orders in the Church of England. I know, they’re getting desperate. My motivation…
‘Islamist’ is a dishonest confection
Convicted last month of plotting what could have proved the worst terrorist attack in British history, Walid Saadaoui had hoped…
Iranians are risking everything to convert to Christianity
Apostasy – specifically, conversion to Christianity from Islam – is punishable by death in Iran. Suspected Christians are routinely imprisoned…
What makes a ghost Catholic or Protestant?
W.H. Auden, in his essay on detective fiction, ‘The Guilty Vicarage’, asked: ‘Is it an accident that the detective story…
Why is Westminster Cathedral leaving Jesus in the dark?
Sitting beneath the looming darkness of the unfinished ceiling of Westminster Cathedral, I found myself praying. I didn’t even know…
How America’s Wasps lost their sting
They moved, with a sort of nonchalant intent, up the aisle to make communion with their God; the men in…
Believe it or not, Russia is great
I have been invited to Moscow by the Russian Orthodox patriarchate because the organiser is a fan of my podcast.…
The young Tennyson reaches for the stars
Richard Holmes describes how the poet’s early fascination with science – astronomy and geology in particular – would have a lasting influence on his writing
Denmark’s ‘spiritual rearmament’ is a lesson for the West
Something unusual is happening in Denmark – and other countries across Europe, including Britain, ought to pay attention. This spring,…
The Catholic influencers spreading the word of God
Vatican City In an auditorium just outside St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, sat solemnly…
Why should the hunt for the next Archbishop of Canterbury be ‘inclusive’?
On 21 July 1828, the urbane aristocrat Charles Manners-Sutton, 89th Archbishop of Canterbury, died. Just two and a half weeks…
