Religion - Quillette

A young boy builds a church out of toy bricks. Artwork by Megan Gafford.

The Religious Instinct in a Godless World

The religious urge is born into nearly every child. And when we do not inherit a belief system, we build our own temples.

Megan Gafford

9 May 2024 · 12 min read

On Sin and Repentance

Our secular ideas about guilt and absolution distort the language and values of Christianity.

Marilyn Simon

4 Mar 2024 · 8 min read

To Save Us All From Satan’s Power

William Friedkin’s horror classic is 50 years old.

George Case

26 Dec 2023 · 6 min read

They Told Me So

How my parents swallowed a frog to save me from antisemitism.

Thomas P. Balazs

22 Nov 2023 · 15 min read

Anti-Enlightenment Thinking, Past and Present

The Enlightenment was as remarkable as it was unexpected, but it led directly to the benefits we enjoy today.

Adam Wakeling

15 Nov 2023 · 9 min read

New Atheism and the Demand for Dogma

The notion that we abandoned our old faiths and replaced them with new ones is too tidy and simplistic.

Matt Johnson

24 Jul 2023 · 9 min read

Nick Cave: “Conservatism Is an Aspiration”

The lead Bad Seed shares his thoughts on creativity, marriage, and having a conservative temperament.

Claire Lehmann

13 Feb 2023 · 13 min read

Hope, Trust, and Religious Faith

In the 1990s, religious Americans embraced science’s re-definition of spirituality. They would be unwise to repeat this mistake.

Ronald W. Dworkin

17 Jan 2023 · 10 min read

Religious Permanence

The human brain evolved to be religious, but religion also evolved to appeal to the human brain.

Bo Winegard

18 Nov 2022 · 10 min read

Scientology’s War on Psychiatry

What caused L. Ron Hubbard to turn on a discipline he had once accepted?

Jonathan Salem-Wiseman / Stephen Wiseman

18 Oct 2022 · 16 min read

The Great Cover-Up

Islamists used a religious lie to crush Mahsa Amini, but women can win this war.

Asra Q. Nomani

30 Sep 2022 · 8 min read

Our Glorious Unhead of State

The idea of an Australian republic is attractive to some, but there's a strong case for a humble head of state.

Harry Lehmann

21 Sep 2022 · 4 min read

Salman Rushdie and the Islamic Punishment for Blasphemy

For centuries, the orthodox Muslim view has been that those who insult Muhammad must be summarily killed.

Gordon Nickel

2 Sep 2022 · 13 min read

Myth-making Isn’t the Right Way to ‘Indigenise’ Our Universities

Too often, the noble goal of reconciliation is being co-opted by those seeking to invent fake histories and advance politicized narratives.

Terry Moore and Carol Pybus

26 Jun 2022 · 16 min read

The Alchemist Emperor of Prague

As the Holy Roman Empire descended into religious conflicts, its Habsburg ruler surrounded himself with magicians, astrologers, and scryers.

Martyn Rady

27 May 2022 · 7 min read