Religion
The enduring power of Japan’s doomsday cults
The enduring power of Japan’s doomsday groups
God is everywhere, sometimes in strange guises, in Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads
Twenty years ago The Corrections alerted a troubled world to the talents of Jonathan Franzen. Though cruel and funny and…
The Church Closers’ Charter must be torn up
The demise of the Church’s heritage is not inevitable
My literary heroes have led me astray
Gstaad Good manners aside, what I miss nowadays is a new, intelligent, finely acted movie. Never have I seen…
The fight for the future of the Church of England
The fight for the future of the Church of England
The rise of the secular godparent
The rise of the secular godparent
What’s the harm in opening the church doors?
The end of summer 2021, the end of the great British staycation. I sat on the grass outside the post…
A podcast that listens to what anti-vaxxers think rather than lecturing them
Work is our new religion. There are people whose primary job is writing listicles of celebrity gossip, illustrated with gifs…
Is Boris Johnson allowed to pick the next Archbishop of Canterbury?
A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was shirty with me when I asked him whether he was now…
Pope Francis is losing his culture war
Since I wroteabout the Pope’s declaration of war on the Old Rite, something unexpected and beautiful has happened. Many bishops…
Leave, convert or perish: The fate of Afghanistan's minorities
President Biden’s decision to ‘end the war in Afghanistan’ means the complete withdrawal of 3,500 US troops by the 20th…
Is this the last chance to save the Church of England?
Is this the last chance to save the Church of England
The plot against religious education
Faith is not the declining force that some secularists believe or indeed desire it to be. Even here in the UK,…
The Church of England's new religion
This article first appeared in the 20 March edition of The Spectator.The Church of England report that was leaked to Douglas…
The troubling history of Mormonism
Are Mormons prepared to ignore their troubled history?
‘Spiritual but not religious’: the rise of consumerism in church
The problems with ‘Spiritual but not Religious’
What Mormons like me really believe
We Mormons really aren’t that different
In America, politics has become a form of religion
When I finally head back to church this weekend, after a year of Covid-avoidance, it is going to feel a…
The Church of England’s new religion
With a heavy heart I must return once more to the subject of the Church of England. I recognise that…
A defence of the Church of England
The Church of England is changing – for the better
Why I’m keeping my church open in lockdown
Why I’m keeping my church open
How to find hope in a year filled with despair
Finding hope in a year like no other
A romcom with very little com: BBC1’s Black Narcissus reviewed
In Black Narcissus, based on the novel by Rumer Godden, five nuns set off for a remote Himalayan palace in…
The anxieties that long ago shadowed Christmas are back
The anxieties that long ago shadowed Christmas are back
The importance of giving offence
As dons at Cambridge vote on a new protocol on constraints to free speech, we mark this month the 500th…
