From Christianity to Kabbalah, there’s no shortage of religious fervour in Hollywood.

People’s fascination for religion and superstition will disappear within a few decades as television and the internet make it easier to get information, and scientists get closer to discovering a final theory of everything, leading thinkers argue today.

Danish cartoons, a pope’s ill-chosen words, and the worldwide Muslim reaction to both topped the list of 2006′s biggest religion stories, according to the Religion Newswriters Association.

Guide to which faiths won't eat which foods

Religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.

Refusal to release financial information is reason for donors to find other ministries to support – whether for tsunami relief or other purposes

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Muslims are handing out Qurans with the bags of rice and sugar they distribute to tsunami victims. Christian aid groups have also rushed in, quietly promising salvation in this predominantly Islamic region but fearful their presence could spark sectarian violence.

JAKARTA: The Church of Scientology is applying its mind-over-matter healing techniques to injured tsunami survivors in Aceh. Jews and Quakers are sending humanitarian aid. Radical Islamic groups are providing "spiritual guidance".

Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims approach death in own ways

The Asian tsunami disaster should make all Christians question the existence of God, Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, writes in The Telegraph today.

The photographs that stay with us, haunt us, are always those of particular faces: one mother's grief, one child's nightmare bewilderment and loneliness. Last week, we learned in Canterbury of the death in the Asian disaster of a 14 -year old from the King's School, with her mother and grandmother. And because of that, people here experienced what had happened in a different way. The number of deaths horrifies us – but what most painfully reaches our feelings is the individual face of loss and terror.

Summing up the year in religion isn't easy when one of the stories involved the eBay auction of a 10-year-old grilled-cheese sandwich bearing what the seller described as an image of the Virgin Mary. The news was that it sold for $28,000.

LONDON (Reuters) - It is one of the oldest, most profound questions, posed by some of the most learned minds of every faith throughout the course of human history.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 17 (AScribe News) -- A new national study shows that religious affiliation plays a powerful role in how much wealth Americans accumulate, with Jews amassing the most wealth and conservative Protestants the least.

Source: BBC Monitoring Central Asia