Religion

A hardware store Buddha statue installed to deter vandalism wound up attracting Vietnamese immigrants who came to pray.

Baptisms in troughs and post-sermon rodeos at the world's biggest cowboy church.

This tiny, charming synagogue in the Cayman Islands was built by a man as a present for his Jewish wife.

This old mill and former police station now present a world-class collection of Orthodox iconography.

America's oldest Eastern European synagogue provided the immigrants of crowded Lower East Side tenements a space of sanctuary.

The world's largest banyan tree is followed by a community of worshippers.

A magical work of architecture where a wind turbine enables monks to levitate.

A hotel in Taiwan based on the better business practices that can be gleaned from Jewish law.

This unusual piece of Renaissance art depicting the bodily horror of crucifixion and skin disease may have been inspired by fungus-induced hallucinations.

The masses at this church incorporate enough moonshine and animal sacrifice that they are no longer recognizably Catholic.

The oldest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia has survived centuries of invasions, political shifts, and religious purges.

A Christian retreat founded to welcome refugees fleeing from the Nazis during World War II.

The world's oldest Jewish library was founded by Sephardic Jews in 17th century Amsterdam.