religion

What’s a Psychedelic 50-Foot Mountain Doing in the Middle of the Desert?

Remembering One Man and His Candy Land-Colored Monument to Redemption By the Salton Sea

In 1984, Leonard Knight started building a mountain to proclaim his love of God on a strip of desert near Niland, California, on the east side of the Salton Sea. It began modestly with 500 bales of straw.

Over the years he transformed his mountain into a 50-foot edifice, topped with a cross and the phrase “GOD IS LOVE.” The words “Jesus I’m a sinner please come upon my body and into my heart,” which Leonard called The Sinner’s Prayer, appeared on the mountain in huge letters. Molded across its flank …

by John and Kris Murphey |

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2014 and the Year of the Horse Both Taste Delicious

Why People Around the World Eat to Celebrate the New Year

by Sharon Bays |

When I taught a course called “Food and Culture” at UCLA, I loved asking my students to investigate their families’ food histories by focusing on one feast or reunion—and then …

Gay—and Returning to Mass

How a Funeral, a Pope, and the Passage of Time Brought Me Back to a Tender, More Forgiving Church

by Gabriel Reyes |

I set foot in a Catholic church today for the first time in decades. I am one of those lapsed Catholics you’ve heard about. There are millions of us around …

The Jewish Heart of L.A. Lives in Koreatown

The Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Newly Restored Sanctuary Is Astonishing. So Is the History of the Congregation.

by Dan Wolf |

Angelenos regularly travel thousands of miles abroad to view imposing, inspiring edifices, yet we have such a place right here in our city: Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s newly restored sanctuary. This …

How Our Church Music Became Merengue, Gospel, and Spanish-Christian Pop

Tastes and People Changed at My Church In Modesto. I Learned To Change With Them.

by Luis A. Lopez-Quinonez |

My path to becoming a choir director and Christian recording artist began with a move from Guatemala to Modesto, California. It was 1992, I was 9 years old, and my …

What the Devil Is Up With People Who Believe in Satan?

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Professed a Belief In Lucifer, It Caused Gasps and Titters Among the Elite. But His Point Should Be Taken Seriously.

by Jeffrey Burton Russell |

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently told New York magazine that he believed in the devil, some readers seemed to view this statement as further proof that Scalia …


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