Hundreds of millions of Hindus are convening this week in what is expected to be the world’s largest human gathering, where a staggering number of devotees, tourists, politicians and celebrities take sacred dips at the convergence of two holy rivers in India. The religious festival, called the Maha Kumbh Mela, happens every 12 years on […]

The Catholic priest stood at the altar in the hilltop church for the mass baptism, dunking dozens of heads in water and tracing a cross with his finger on each forehead. Then he rejoiced at Christianity’s recovery of souls in a land where the vast majority of people are Muslim — as the men, women […]