Scientists have found a long-awaited explanation as to why humans have for centuries maintained orderly societies: the fear of an angry god.

Food is key to Chinese New Year, and families and restaurants will ring in the Year of the Monkey with special feasts.

Destiny Church wants its faithful to dig deeper this year, almost doubling the cost of tickets to attend its annual conference.

Muslim women can be banned from wearing veils in schools, courts and other British institutions, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

Many of us want to know what makes Muslims tick, writes Alan Duff. Don't send me death threats yet, you of Muslim faith. This columnist is not out to get you.

A look at Islam's two main denominations to help make sense of the Saudi-Iran crisis.

The beheadings sent a clear message to militant Islamists and the Shi'a that the state would not hesitate to employ its monopoly on violence against those who challenged its authority, writes Ben Rich.

Islamic law forbids the enslavement of Muslims, but all that did was to encourage a roaring trade in the enslavement of non-Muslims that lasted for over a thousand years, writes Gwynne Dyer.

Donald Trump has stepped up his war of words with British officials over what he calls the UK's "massive Muslim problem".

Can there be goodwill toward Islam? I believe there can be goodwill, but this will require us to look beyond the likes of Isis and al-Qaeda, writes Zain Ali.

BIG DEBATE: Dame Susan Devoy says she isn't the Grinch while Bishop Ross Bay warns of the dangers of expunging "Christmas" from migrants' vocabulary.

COMMENT: The Human Rights Commissioner is wasting time on trying to drop "Christmas" from our summer vocabulary., writes Brian Rudman.

The ARMS Trust is not doing away with Christmas, not banning Christmas, not rejecting Christianity, and not avoiding the word Christmas, writes Dr Mary Dawson.

Belgian security forces are still hunting down suspected Isis militants after making more than a dozen arrests in a series of raids yesterday.

Lomu became a Mormon, joining the Church of the Latter Day Saints in 2012. It is understood Lomu's funeral will be held at a branch of the church.

A 2009 Gallup survey of European Muslims showed they are just as likely, if not more so, to identify with the country in which they live, than the rest of the population.

There is a dissonance between the reality of modern war and the high ideals by which war is justified, writes Chris Barfoot. These ideals form a deadly combination.

As a young woman growing up in Auckland in the 60s and 70s, Maria Hall dreamed of "boys, of love and marriage, and of living on a houseboat".

Prime Minister John Key has rejected claims that New Zealand's spy agencies are overstating national security risks to "justify their existence".

Clergymen attempting to prove claims that a skull found in a Worcestershire church vault is that of William Shakespeare have been thwarted by a senior church lawyer who has barred them from carrying....

Donna Miles-Mojab asks, if you agree that the choice to cover less does not lead to liberty, then why assume that the choice to cover up more leads to oppression?

A church has extradited one of their members after discovering his decision to 'embrace the homosexual lifestyle'.

A Christian group who predicted that the world was going to be destroyed by a great fire on October 7 had the unenviable task of explaining what happened.

Kiwi, Amina Hall who became part of Islam faith says being the subject of verbal attacks had opened her eyes and encourages kiwis to be open minded.

According to a Christian group, you shouldn't be reading this article as the world was to be engulfed and destroyed by a great fire on October 7.

Evolutionary biologist and writer Richard Dawkins says he suspects religion is "dying" in New Zealand and that's a good thing for science and education.

SUVs with men-in-suits-and-dark-glasses standing in their open doors, a truck full of police with machine gun carrying men in fatigues inside, and then finally more men in suits running ahead of the Popemobile, writes Richard McLachlan.

The pope's entourage is about 100 people, which makes it less of a flock and more of a herd.