RELIGION
How Do They Make the "Pope Smoke"?
When the Catholic cardinals meet to pick a new pope in the “papal conclave,” they’re sequestered in the Sistine Chapel so that their deliberations aren’t influenced by the outside world and that their ballots, burned after each round of voting, remain sec
What's the Difference between Churches, Chapels, and Cathedrals?
For every world religion, there is a place to worship. For Christianity, there are a confusing variety of names for these places, which are frequently—but incorrectly—used interchangeably. Church, chapel, and cathedral are the trio of terms most commonly
11 Scary Evil Monsters From World Religions
Religion teaches its followers lessons through parables about kindness and love and doing the right thing. But if all that fails, there’s always the threat of a scary monster to drive the point home. 1.
15 Patron Saints for Modern Situations
Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints, often referred to as All Saints' Day or All Hallows (hence October 31 is Halloween, a contraction of All Hallows' Evening). In honor of the day, we present to you some of the lesser-known
6 Saints With Rather Intense Stories
November 1st is All Saints Day, a day to commemorate all the saints, known and unknown. In recognition, here are the stories of six known saints. 1 & 2. Perpetua and
10 Gorgeous Pilgrimage Sites You Need to See
By Steve Wiegand 1)
The Adventures of St. Patrick
Slave, traveler, evangelist, abolitionist, and saint. A scant 400 years after Jesus' birth, the priest known as Patrick took the Great Commission seriously, to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth by converting the frightening barbarians of that sca
6 Open Letters That Changed the World
Epistolary history is full of open letters, those that are written with the intent that they'll be read by a wide audience. Here we've collected six of the best (or at least, most influential) open letters of all time. 1. Letter from Birmingham Jail W
The Hindu Milk Miracle
On September 21, 1995, something strange started happening in India: statues of Hindu gods began to drink milk. One worshipper offered a spoonful of milk to a statue of Lord Ganesha, and the milk apparently disappeared as if the statue was drinking it.
5 Surprising Divinity School Dropouts
From Hollywood superstars to adulterous dilettantes, several seminary dropouts have managed to find success in the secular world. Here's a sampling of the finest in almost-clergy.
AJ on Alcohol
Before I started my year of living biblically, I had feared that I'd be forced into twelve months of sobriety. After all, I knew the puritans had a reputation for condemning alcohol. And certain fundamentalist Christians think of booze as up there with ad
In the Beginning: Your prayers have been answered!
Well, almost. With just 6 (six!) days to go until our new book's release, mental_floss is happy to present another set of origins. Enjoy! Holy Architecture! When it comes to the history of religious architecture, we pray we've got the facts right. Karnak:
The LOLCat Bible Translation Project
We've covered LOLCats before (including Miss C.'s hit LOLCat of Death post), but now things have gotten a little out of hand. The phenomenon of LOLCat Grammar has now matured enough to support a translation of the Bible into LOLCat language. Seriously.
Fake Your Way Through a Conversation About: St. Augustine
Name Dropping: Saint Augustine (Saint Uh-GUSS-tin if you're trying to impress people; St. AWW-guh-steen if you're talking about the town in Florida): (354-430). The most important Christian theologian ever, except for St. Paul, whose thoughts on God ended