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This week, millions of Muslims make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj.

Decisive military action and a more patient strategy of 'aggressive containment' were just two of the differing approaches suggested to deal with the global threat of ISIS and violent extremism made by an expert panel at King's College London last night.

The climate in Stalin's Russia in the 1930s and 1940s dissuaded Soviet officials from writing about what went on in the corridors of power.

Tickets are now available for the Birmingham Qur'an manuscript exhibition, taking place at the University of Birmingham from 2-25 October 2015.

Law researchers at Cardiff University are calling for an overhaul of proposed legislation governing the use of religious courts in the UK In a new publication, Religion and Legal Pluralism , the rese

A Qur'an manuscript held by the University of Birmingham has been placed among the oldest in the world thanks to modern scientific methods. Radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment on which the text is written to the period between AD 568 and 645 with 95.4% accuracy. The test was carried out in a laboratory at the University of Oxford.

Most couples who marry in England or Wales today are choosing a civil ceremony in Approved Premises rather than a Register Office or a religious ceremony.

Sussex researcher heads project on how to protect freedom of religion Millions of people in different parts of the world are subjected to persecution or serious discrimination because of their religion or belief.

A new paper by Professor Caroline Gatrell and Bishop Nigel Peyton shows that priestly life can present a constant challenge. Nevertheless, most Anglican priests remain steadfast to their vows and consider the commitment of ordination to be lifelong. They feel under obligation to be resilient and to continue inhabiting their particular vocational occupation regardless of whether or obedience to the vows they make when ordained comes easily to them.

Public companies should appoint a 'Contrarian Director' - inspired by the 'Devil's Advocate' - to challenge board decisions and suggest alternatives, according to new Cambridge research.

The project will enable churches in Hawkshead and Hackney to share their prayers with each other, using digital technology.

Political correctness is a hindrance to the civil rights movement according to a leading expert on James Baldwin - the American novelist and activist on racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies.

Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, who last year co-authored an appeal to the Pope for moral leadership on climate change, will back his recent encyclical and stress that humanity's attitude towards the natural world needs to undergo a fundamental moral shift.

Margaret Thatcher's previously unpublished memoir of the Falklands War has been acquired for the nation - after Arts Council England today announced the acceptance in lieu of inheritance tax of papers from the estate of the former Prime Minister.

18 June 2015 marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, the final battle of the Napoleonic wars that followed the French Revolution.

It is a conundrum that has puzzled scholars for centuries, but now experts from the Magna Carta Project have established the scribe of at least one and possibly two of the original Magna Cartas of 1215. The discovery by scholars at King's College London and the University of East Anglia, of who wrote the Lincoln charter - and probably also the Salisbury charter - comes on the eve of the 800th anniversary of the ratification of Magna Carta.

Sussex academic's vision of Islam helps stage Glyndebourne opera A University of Sussex professor's knowledge of Islam has played a significant role in the creation of one of the major new-season att

A series of defensive ditches designed to protect St Mary's Church, Berkeley, that span nearly a millennium, have been uncovered by University of Bristol archaeologists digging at Berkeley Castle. There are five ditches in total, all running north-south to the west of St Mary's Church. It is well known that St Mary's Church has Anglo-Saxon origins, with the current church having some Anglo-Saxon masonry within its existing fabric.

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A University of Warwick academic will be seen crawling through ancient sewers and visiting burial chambers in an upcoming BBC 1 documentary.

Whilst the UK suffers the post-election blues, a new book by Professor Oliver Bennett, founder of the University of Warwick's Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, looks at how societies maintain hope in the future in an increasingly divided and threatening world.

A comprehensive record of those who did not want to fight in the First World War will from today be opened up to the public as part of Imperial War Museums' permanent digital memorial.

The history, archaeology and conservation of one of Wales' finest medieval buildings - St Mary's Priory Church, Abergavenny - is the subject of a new book, edited by University of Bristol archaeologist, Dr George Nash.

Dr Kylie Murray of the Faculty of English Language and Literature and Balliol College, discovered a twelfth-century copy of the 'Consolation of Philosophy' by Boethius, a statesman of the late Roman Empire, at the University of Glasgow. Dr Murray, a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, found the document in the University of Glasgow's Special Collections.

Artists, academics and activists come together to consider the role of art in influencing and shaping our understanding of belief and conflict in the UK.

A researcher at the University of Glasgow has discovered the oldest surviving non-biblical manuscript from Scotland. The find was made in the University of Glasgow's Special Collections by Dr Kylie Murray, a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow from Balliol College, Oxford, who is currently at Glasgow on a Visiting Fellowship.

University of Manchester PhD researcher presents findings to British Sociological Association's annual conference today.

Discrimination by employers has meant that Muslim women are much more likely to be unemployed than white Christian women even when they have the same qualifications and language abilities, new research from the University of Bristol shows.

The Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life (CORAB) is coming to the University of Glasgow on Monday 13th April for an evidence hearing from over 30 distinguished members of the Scottish faith and belief sectors, as well as Scottish politicians, journalists and civic leaders.

Ivan Rajic's interest in the economic roots of independence movements is based on his personal experience of growing up in Belgrade.

The Bishop of Manchester is set to open The Playing God Film Series on Thursday 5 March. This unique film series, which is the first of its kind, will focus on the roles of science and religion in movies.

A unique film series which is the first of its kind opens in Manchester next month focusing on the roles of science and religion in movies.

'Western Europe will not find a partner of values and morals in Vladimir Putin', said Sir John Sawers, former Chief of MI6 in his inaugural lecture as Visiting Professor at King's College London.

The threat to peace posed by the Islamic State group has been described as "unprecedented in the modern age", yet research on the rise and fall of an extremist group in 1980s Lebanon suggests that we may have seen this all before.

We can but hope, argue sociologist Dr Jeff Miley and Gates Scholar Johanna Riha, who here summarise some of their observations following a recent field visit to Rojava in northern Syria, and give a brief overview of the political and social ideologies underpinning the Kurdish revolution.

The United Arab Emirates security is seriously challenged by the conflict with extremist groups in its neighbouring countries, the son of the Emir of Abu Dhabi told an audience at King's College London on 28th January.

In this post, Professor Tim Bale of QMUL's School of Politics and International Relations, discusses the findings of new polling data on attitudes to Jewish political leaders.

Dr Catherine Fletcher from the University of Sheffield's Department of History comments on her role as advisor to the BBC's forthcoming version of Wolf Hall.

What does Love mean to you? Don't miss the Jewish Museum London's first crowd-sourced exhibition featuring everyday objects, historic artefacts and works of art inspired by love.

'Attack on Freedom'; 'La Liberté assassinée'. Headlines like those in The Times and Le Figaro proclaim that the commando-style attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday was an attack on free speech itself.

Research in Religious Studies at Lancaster University has been ranked as having the biggest impact on culture and society in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF).

Research finds support for attacks on civilians in the United States among people in some Muslim countries is linked to negative views of American culture rather than perceptions of its foreign polic

QMUL's Dr Christopher Phillips argues that despite a weaker economy and the domestic threat of ISIS, Moscow is unlikely to change course on Syria.

In 1714, the British Parliament offered large rewards for finding longitude at sea. Men around the world submitted schemes but only one woman, Jane Squire, published a proposal her own name.

Leading historian Professor Amy-Jill Levine is to give this year's Edward Cadbury Lectures at the University of Birmingham.

An epic new history of England offers some eye-catching conclusions on Englishness - suggesting, among other things, that a "remarkable" level of cultural unity and a relative openness to other cultures are both key components of English national identity.