Death and Dying Customs

North Korean media report a miraculous act of mourning for deceased leader Kim Jong Il by a bird in Berlin. A fruit tree also miraculously blooms there in winter in his honor....

We drive out of Chicago well before dawn Monday so we'll be on time for the 1 p.m. funeral service in suburban Detroit. A mutual friend has died, killed in a car crash on an icy road Friday morning. My......

The iconic Clifton's Cafeteria, which is in the beginning stages of a renovation, will play host to a screening of "Chinatown," which will also feature a performance by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson....

Life insurance companies are facing heat from officials in several states, including Pennsylvania, to be more aggressive at identifying payable policies, even if they haven't received a claim. In recent months, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department and...

On Good Friday, Aloma United Methodist pastor Andy Searles participated in a prayer service with a number of pastors from Seminole County for the city of Sanford, Fla., in light of the Trayvon Martin case. Below is an article he wrote about the gathering....

Abuse Registry Florida Department of Children and Families Abuse Hotline    800-962-2873 Adoption Miami-Dade County Baptist Children’s Home www.fbchomes.org; Faith-based, nonprofit organization seeks stable Christian homes for children....

Missed appointments for the apocalypse, like the one in May, do more than give nonbelievers a chance to crack a joke. They create doubts in some of the faithful; after all, the world didn't end — but is there really somebody out there? The same can...

Rumi said it best: "Grief can be the garden of compassion." I spotted this quote as I sat in my garden grieving over the sudden death of our 26-year-old daughter. Jogging with her fiancé in New York's Central Park on Memorial Day 2008, Lauren Nicole...

College students deal with the death of family members more often than realized, and that is why formal bereavement policies are essential to help students if a family member dies during the school year, says a Purdue University expert. "At any one time,...

If history repeats itself, the Rev. Andrew Harrison will see plenty of unfamiliar faces in church on Sunday. For the last nine years, his congregation, St. Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church in Palos Hills, has hosted a 9/11 commemoration that draws...

Crucifixes, Virgin Mary statuettes, ornate Spanish-style churches: so many religious images seem permanently linked with Hispanic Americans. But that’s eroding fast, according to pollster George Barna. In the fourth update on his annual survey...

Popcorn. Check. Diet Coke. Check. Twizzlers. Check. A copy of "F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Short Autobiography" (Scribner), edited by James L. West III. Check. If you're on your way to see — or see again — "Midnight in Paris," the latest film...