During the Good Friday liturgy at our parish, we venerate a plain cross and not a crucifix with a representation of Jesus’ body on it. The crucifix is kept out of sight in the sacristy.

Because this doesn’t seem right to me, I wrote a note in the parish’s suggestion box, recommending that we use a crucifix rather than a cross. A member of the parish staff responded that we are venerating the wood of the cross on which Jesus died, not a replica of Jesus’ body.

If you want to increase your stress and anxiety, or fear and sadness, peruse some of the research on the status of religious beliefs and behaviors in our country. According to a recent Pew Research Survey, there has been a drop in the number of people who pray daily, regularly attend services, and consider religion “very important in their lives, ” with the belief in the existence of God also dropping from 71 percent in 2007 to 63 percent in 2014.

Just mention the Knights Templar and the conspiracy theories start flying. But just who were the medieval Knights of the Temple? What was their job and what happened to them? Why do they still capture our imaginations? The Knights of the Temple—the Templars, for short—were established in the early 1100s under a Rule written by Bernard of Clairvaux,a famous Cistercian abbot. He modified existing Rules for religious monastic communities to fill the need for an armed order in light of the Crusades.

A United Kingdom

In postwar London, Muriel (Laura Carmichael) convinces her sister, Ruth (Rosamund Pike), an office worker, to accompany her to a dance at the mission society. There Ruth meets Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), a law student and prince of the African country of Bechuanaland (now Botswana). They bond over a mutual love for jazz, and soon Khama proposes marriage. But their interracial union evokes resistance from her family and the British government.