I was raised outside of organized religion, in a spiritual-but-not-religious home. I obviously did not stay a "none." I'm a pastor in the United Church of Christ and I try, for better or worse, to live my life according to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Islam's growth in prison is matched only by its influence on hip-hop culture. For many young Americans, hip-hop leads to their first encounter with the faith.

American Jews simply cannot enjoy the benefits of American pluralism, which we surely do, while pretending we are not living in the most dynamic religious marketplace in the world.

A good question to ask is whether there are some religious beliefs and practices that are off limits to any analysis whatsoever.

Of course there are always a plethora of pleasant anecdotes that Diaspora Hindus welcomed White Hindu Converts in their temples and homes. But is this welcome sincere?

Whether it's be-suited men standing along College Avenue, a horrible gay conversion preacher screaming in front of the student union, or Campus Crusade for Christ actively trying to convert people who are just sitting around, the conversion campaign is nearly constant.

For every Grand Inquisitor, there is a St. Francis of Assisi. For every Osama bin Laden, there is a Mother Teresa. Anything in the universe that humans touch will be ever thus: strands of good, evil and everything in between.

It's as if I'm being outed as an imposter, nothing more than a goy trying to pass with a Jewish last name and a Star of David around her neck. Even so, I don't doubt my decision for a minute, and I would be honored to have those same three rabbis as my witnesses if I were to do it all over again.

The leaders of the American Jewish community should begin collaborating on such a partnership agreement. Only if we are on the same page on the matter of Jewish status will we be able to seek harmony among the disparate denominations of liberal Judaism.

Infamous for circling the wagons, the Jewish people forgets its deep roots in conversion. Shavuot is a chance to reconsider our commitment to the image of the Jewish people and the image we portray when it comes to the convert in our midst.

How did I remember that today is the Hebrew calendar date of my son's first birthday? I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that it was not by my own memory, but truly of divine intervention.

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) Prison Fellowship founder and former Nixon aide Chuck Colson was memorialized Wednesday ...

In early March, I received a letter from my bank informing me of an impending "Conversion Date" on May 4. As a Religious Studies professor, I read on eagerly wondering what aspects of my body or soul might change.

Recursion is how conversion always turns together with itself as already having been, again, both different and the same.

Mormons have performed such baptisms since their founding prophet introduced the practice on the banks of the Mississippi in the early 1840s. In this rite, Mormons receive baptism "for and in behalf of" a deceased individual.

Conversion describes the gathering of the present; it is the unity of the present with the modes of being past and future.

Sean Stone, son of famed director Oliver Stone, is now a Muslim. According to the Agence France-Presse, the 27-year-old filmmaker converted to Isl...

Have an spiritual question, ethical dilemma, or religious curiosity? Don't be shy! People of all backgrounds, ages and creeds are encouraged to submit questions to Ask Pastor Paul.

Are the monks and the sisters but marginal Catholics in these concerns? I dare say that they are not. In recent years Pope Benedict XVI has made some important statements about respect for the environment.

I've been thinking a lot about change recently because of the course I'm teaching this semester, which looks at the experience of conversion from historical, sociological and anthropological perspectives.