Some will view Charles Darwin's anniversary year as one in which to score cultural points rather than purely to celebrate science, says Mark Vernon. That would be a missed opportunity for meaningful dialogue.

"Byzantium 330-1453" runs at Britain's Royal Academy of Arts until 22 March 2009.

A New York City art exhibit is featuring the biblically-inspired art of Marc Chagall, a Russian exile whose work depicted both Jewish and Christian symbols but remained rooted in an earth-bound, humane view of the world.

Sarah Malik, the new Youth President of the Methodist Church in Britain, talks about her role, her hopes for change in church and society, the need to empower young people, and her personal sense of vocation.

For half a century, says Savi Hensman, theologians have vigorously debated lesbian and gay love and the response of society and the Church. Yet theological reflection on these issues, for instance in literature, dates back further.

In a thoughtful, passionate and challenging reflection on homosexuality
and the Christian church, Glynn Cardy's focus is not on an 'issue' but
on the people who are most affected by prejudice, and their need for
justice, dignity and human rights.

Using a new-to-DVD documentary on Lonnie Frisbee as a starting point,
Brian Collins reflects on the way Jesus became an inspiration, brand and cultural transfer for an alternative culture that became mainstream.

An installation of sculptures responding to the horrors of war, particularly the ongoing war in Iraq, is on display at Union Theological Seminary in New York City until 16 May 2008. It is the work of priest and artist Thomas Faulkner.

Millions of dollars have been spent promoting Ben Stein’s creationist propaganda movie ‘Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed’ to conservative church groups, but that money would have been better spent on fact checkers, say its critics.

The bludgeoning conclusion of Paul Thomas Anderson's much-lauded, Oscar-nominated film "There Will Be Blood," which has recently been released on DVD, features a preacher forced to renounce his faith in God and admit charlatanry. Spencer Dew investigates.

A new painting of St George by Scott Norwood Witts, which depicts the saint as a man of compassion rather than a crusader, is to be unveiled at the Catholic Cathedral of St George, Southwark, to mark the saint’s day next week.

Forget Maria. How do you solve a problem like Jesus? After all, everyone has a view: well-meaning Jewish guru, dangerous heretic, son of God, charlatan. The list is endless. Mel Gibson gave us the fundamentalist's Jesus of gruesome realism: a tortured body offset by expensive LA orthodontistry (bad teeth would have been a realism too far). This year's Easter offering from the BBC - boldly scheduled for primetime on BBC1 - reaches for the other extreme and presents the inoffensive Liberal Democrat Jesus: Nick Clegg with a beard.

While Rowan Williams rightly criticises Richard Dawkins for unfeasibly reducing religion to a pre-scientific explanatory system now superseded by science, says Ricahrd Skinner, he seems to have misunderstood Dawkins on evolution and survival strategies.

Theological truth and creative fiction are much closer to each other than might at first be presumed, Alison Goodlad discovers in reviewing Peter C. Hodgson's evocative treatment of the work of George Eliot.

As well as preparing worship resources for World Aids Day the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. has this year put together an excellent Advent calendar of daily readings, pictures and meditations. Many of the meditations are written by people living with Aids.