belief

Topic description and stories

Donald Trump speaking at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference. Some 44% of Trump voters were found to believe their government is hiding the truth about immigration, according to researchers.

Brexit and Trump voters more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, survey study shows

23 Nov 2018

Latest research reveals the extent to which conspiracy theories have become “mainstream rather than marginal beliefs” across much of Europe and the...

The bodies of two Protestants, Martin Bucer and Peter Phagius, are burnt in Cambridge's market place, 1557

The Reformation is remembered

27 Oct 2017

The Reformation is famously traced to an event that took place in Germany 500 years ago and reverberated across Europe. An online exhibition paints a...

The "empericum that never fails" in the margin of the Compendium of Gilbertus Anglicus.The instructions are for making and applying an amulet for conception.

Remedies for infertility: how performative rituals entered early medical literature

24 Jan 2016

A study of one of the most important medieval texts devoted to women’s medicine has opened a window into the many rituals associated with conception...

Protestantism, prawns and politics in Scotland and Northern Ireland

21 Jun 2012

With church attendance dwindling, it’s easy to ignore the pockets of radical Protestantism that continue to flourish in many small communities...

Can a scientist be religious?

11 Mar 2012

The relationship between science and religion has had its rocky moments. But Dr Robert Asher, author of the newly published book 'Evolution and...

Europe’s forgotten “religion”

25 Aug 2011

Hundreds of millions of people in Europe alone are “non-religious”, but non-religion remains an understudied field. To mark the launch of a new...

No such thing as a free lunch?

10 May 2011

The process of giving and receiving (and being in debt) is an inescapable part of human experience. From sub-prime lending and student loans to organ...

A Class Apart

26 May 2010

Despite our best efforts, social mobility in the UK does not seem to be improving. Diane Reay, Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge...

Beliefs, predictions and shortcuts in the deceitful brain

01 May 2010

Professor Paul Fletcher believes that exploring how the brain makes predictions about the world will help us to understand mental illness.

Jumping to delusions: shortcuts in the brain

24 Mar 2010

Why do some people with mental illnesses entertain bizarre and seemingly irrational beliefs that make their lives a misery?

From beyond the grave

01 May 2009

Tracing popular beliefs from medieval to early modern times is highlighting the durability of debates about the dead.

What do we think we are?

20 Mar 2009

Would you like to hear sounds from deep within the body, consider the similarities between a funeral sculpture and the structure of DNA, or explore...