According to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, more American Jews cite having a sense of humor as important to their Jewish identity than things like keeping kosher and studying Torah. Humor has long been associated with Jewish identity—from Jerry Seinfeld to Mel Brooks, Adam Sandler to Joan Rivers.

We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. But why do some people seem to struggle so much more than others when it comes to avoiding harmful behavior? And what does it mean for how we think about blame and accountability if the answer has something to do with our genes?

We’ve always assumed that if there IS a God, that God made us. But what if it ends up being the other way around … and we’re already further along than we think? Artificial intelligence is now offering moral advice, generating new forms of scripture, even simulating conversations with the divine. For some users, the line between useful tool and spiritual authority is already starting to blur. Why does it feel so natural for us to imagine there’s a ghost in the machine? And what happens when the people building AI start to talk and think about their creation in religious terms?

Uncertainty about faith can be anxiety provoking and even cause people to leave religion altogether. But that’s not the way it works in all traditions. In fact, some are exactly the opposite.

Religion can help provide answers to many questions in life — big and small. And in doing so, give a sense of security and understanding of the world and our place in it. But what happens when doubt starts to creep in?  As more and more people leave organized religion, is doubt the cause, or could learning how to embrace doubt actually be the answer to the modern crisis of faith?

In conversations about women’s rights, religion and feminism are often cast as incompatible. But religious women tend to see it differently.

About 70% of all Americans consider themselves spiritual in some way, whether it be a belief in the soul, spirits or just the idea that something’s going on beyond the natural world and what science can prove. But that doesn’t mean they’re ordering off the menu of organized religion.