11 ways religion changed in 2011

From the Arab Spring to “Mormonism’s Moment,” how religion transformed in 2011.

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March 2, 2011

Pastor Rob Bell launched a national conversation about hell when he suggested in a video for his book “Love Wins” that a loving God wouldn't send billions of people to an afterlife of torment. A conservative backlash followed, with many prominent Christian leaders accusing Bell of heresy.

Courtesy of Rob Bell /

March 3, 2011

Pakistani civil rights activists gather during a ceremony at the site of the deadly attack on Pakistani minority affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti in Islamabad. Pakistan announced three days of national mourning and vowed "fool-proof" security after the Christian government minister who decried Islamic blasphemy laws was gunned down. Two months before Bhatti’s death, the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was killed for criticizing the blasphemy law. Religious extremism in Pakistan remains a deep challenge for the country and for American engagement in the region.

Farooq Naeem / AFP/Getty Images

April 2011

Women wearing niqabs walk on a commercial street in Marseille in this 2009 file photo. France's ban on full face veils, a first in Europe, went into force on April 11, 2011, exposing anyone who wears the Muslim niqab or burqa in public to fines of 150 euros ($216). The French law was only the most recent example of European efforts to assert national identity in light of a fast-growing Muslim immigrant population.

Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters

Aug 24, 2011

An angel, carved from Indiana limestone, lies shattered amid other damage on the roof of the Washington National Cathedral after an earthquake rattled the nation's capital. The Episcopal Church, which once represented the elite of American society but has recently been on the decline, was forced by financial constraints to ask for federal aid in rebuilding.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

June 15, 2011

Archbishop Timothy Dolan, of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaks in Bellevue, Wash. The U.S. bishops, allied with some conservative Protestants, have launched a campaign for "religious liberty" in light of what they are calling a "drive to neuter religion" in the public square. The Catholic Church has clashed with state governments and the Obama administration over new gay marriage laws and birth control regulations that prohibit the church from discriminating with tax dollars and require church institutions to cover birth control for employees.

Ted S. Warren / AP

Oct 15, 2011

A man dressed as Jesus sits among other protesters holding placards on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral in central London as part of the Occupy Wall Street protests. In a year marked by debates over which approach to the economy is more moral — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called debt “immoral” while religious leaders on the left urged Congress not to cut aid to the poor — Occupy Wall Street also mobilized some liberal religious activists.

Leon Neal / AFP/Getty Images

Oct 7, 2011

Former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gives a foreign policy address to cadets at the Citadel in Charleston, S.C. Romney's Mormon faith rose to new prominence in 2011, with some calling this year “Mormonism’s Moment.” “The Book of Mormon,” a satirical musical by the creators of “South Park,” won nine Tony awards, the Mormon Church launched a new campaign, “I'm a Mormon,” to bring the faith to the mainstream, and the presence of two Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints candidates in Romney and Jon Huntsman all focused national attention on the young, American-born faith tradition.

Richard Ellis / Getty Images

Nov 19, 2011

Republican presidential candidates, from left, Rep. Ron Paul, (R-Texas), Rep. Michele Bachmann, (R-Minn.), former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain and former House speaker Newt Gingrich listen to moderator Frank Luntz, right, during the Thanksgiving Family Forum sponsored by The Family Leader in Des Moines. The Republican primary season has been marked by apparent dissatisfaction with the field, but with white evangelicals expected to make up nearly 60 percent of Iowa caucus voters, the candidates have made social issues features of their campaigns, even during a time of economic woe.

Charlie Neibergall / AP

Nov 27, 2011

Richard Fiore, from left, his son Oscar, mom Vicki, and son Phipps participate in Mass in Montgomery, Ala. The Catholic Church in the English-speaking world introduced a new Mass translation in November that was considered more faithful to the original Latin; the new translation was the biggest change in the liturgy since Vatican II.

David Bundy / AP

Dec 14, 2011

A girl walks past a Muslim Brotherhood slogan "Islam is the solution" near a polling station during the second day of parliamentary elections at the village of Kafr el-Moseilha, the home town of former president Hosni Mubarak, in the Nile delta province of Menoufia, 50 miles north of Cairo. The mixed legacies of the Arab Spring, which swept the Middle East in 2011, had many concerned about the role of religion in the burgeoning democracies. While many insisted that the uprisings would not necessarily usher in theocracy, comments from Libya's interim leader that Islamic law would reign in that state and the rise of Islamist parties in Egypt chastened many observers and secularists.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

Dec. 26, 2011

Naama Margolese sits with her mother, Hadassa, in their home in the central Israeli town of Beit Shemesh. The story of Naama Margolese, an 8-year-old American girl who has unwittingly found herself on the front line of Israel's latest religious war, drew new attention to the religious tensions in Beit Shemesh, a city of some 100,000 just outside Jerusalem. The girl, who was harassed for wearing “immodest” clothing in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, became the focal point of a debate over the religious identity of the state.

Oded Balilty / AP

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PARIS, FRANCE - MAY 29: Serena Williams of USA stretches to plays a forehand in her women's singles first round match between Serena Williams of USA and Virginie Razzano of France during day three of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 29, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

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Winnie Pajcic, 9, holds on to a railing as she leans back in the wind during a visit to Stockton Park in Ortega, Fla., in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Beryl on Monday May 28, 2012. Beryl came ashore early Monday near Jacksonville Beach with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Kelly Jordan)

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Camels rest at a watering hole outside the town of Aleg May 25, 2012. REUTERS/Joe Penney (MAURITANIA - Tags: ANIMALS SOCIETY)

Camels, tigers, turtles, a giant stag beetle and more in animal views

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ANNAPOLIS, MD- MAY 29: Graduates cheer as the Blue Angels fly over during the 100th anniversary of the United States Naval Academy Graduation and Commissioning Ceremonies in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday, May 29, 2012. U.S Sec. of Defense Leon Edward Panetta gave the graduation address. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

U.S. Naval Academy graduation

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave the commencement address at the ceremony.

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 26: Singer/actress Jennifer Lopez (C) performs with dancers during the Q'Viva! The Chosen Live show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on May 26, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Lil Jon, Eddie Van Halen, Mariah Carey and other celebrities.

Doc Watson, bluegrass and folk legend, dies at 89

The blind singer and guitarist was a Grammy winner, known for his flat-picking style of guitar playing.

Henry, a calf, sustained a head wound and required stitches after being slashed over the weekend.

Farm animals attacked in Fairfax

A calf, two goats and a chicken were slashed over the weekend at Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon.

COVINGTON, LA - MAY 14: Brother Emmanuel Labrise of St. Joseph's Abbey prepares a casket for lining on May 15, 2012 in Covington, Louisiana. Louisiana law forbids those who are not licensed funeral directors from selling caskets. And since Hurricane Katrina leveled the timberlands that once provided the main source of funding for the abbey, the monks have attempted to make a living by building and selling simple cypress caskets. The monks won their first round last year, and have a hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in June. (Photo by Sean Gardner/For the Washington Post)

Louisiana monks fight for the right to sell coffins

Federal court case pits a group of monks against the funeral home industry.

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