Initiation involves incorporating individuals as members of a community or into successive life cycle stages. Accomplishing gender identity and distinct social roles lie at the core of initiation rituals. Circumcision, a paradigm for male initiation...

The process of introducing people to a new situation—this frequently used to be through a ritual although now it is more frequently through an induction...

See *BRIS, *MIKVEH,...

The term initiation in the most general sense denotes a body of rites and oral teachings whose purpose is to produce a radical modification of the religious and social status of the person to be initiated. In philosophical terms, initiation is...

Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense it can also signify a transformation...

There's seems to some confusion in our modern society about whose fault it is when various individuals and groups fail to reach their potential. In order to flourish, people need to opportunities to do so. They should not be denied these opportunities, nor should they...

President Bush came to the snow-topped Blue Ridge Mountains on Wednesday to rally public support for a plan to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into national parks."Congress needs to hear loud and clear how important this initiative is," Bush said at Shenandoah National Park.The...

Annie Laurie Gaylor speaks with a soft voice, but her message catches attention: Keep God out of government.Gaylor has helped transform the Freedom From Religion Foundation from obscurity into the nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics, with a fast-rising membership and increasing legal clout.Next...

There's a role for artists and other famous faces to play when it comes to global issues, Shakira said during her visit to the Clinton Global Initiative conference, a meeting that has its share of well-known attendees.But boldface names are not enough for former President...