Religion

A Nigerian military official said Saturday that about 700 people were killed in the northern city of Maiduguri during recent fighting between police and a radical Islamist sect. The toll was previously thought to be around 300. Col. Ben Ahanotu said mass burials had begun because bodies were decomposing in the heat. The Islamist compound destroyed last week by government troops is one of the burial sites, he said.

A punchy jingle kicks off the promotional video of a French firm that sells Islamic women's swimwear. Models wearing brightly colored, full-body tunic, pant and hijab combos frolic at the sea's edge swinging their arms in free-spirited step with the music. The water-resistant burkinis , outfits that cover everything except a woman's face, hands and feet, are designed for Muslim women in search of "a little more modesty" so they can "have more freedom to play sports," according to the manufacturer.

In his role as editor of the online magazine Lapis, Ralph White is scholarly and staid, offering literary explorations of myths, traditions, symbols and lore that have swayed thought for centuries. But once a year, White, 60, leads a number of adventurous souls on quests for the deeper mysteries of spiritual experience in castles, cathedrals, temples, tombs and ancient ruins around the world. Last week, White and 65 others have been on "An Esoteric Quest for Inner America" in Rip Van Winkle country, or upstate New York, which is the birthplace of such homegrown spiritual and cultural movements as the 19th century utopian Oneida Community and the 1969 Woodstock festival.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can be found in church. Now, using a strategy straight from the secular playbook, its leaders hope to lure back those who have drifted. The diocese and nearly a dozen others across the country are preparing to air several thousand prime-time TV commercials in English and Spanish, inviting inactive Catholics to return to their religious roots. In addition to Sacramento, dioceses in Chicago, Omaha, Providence, R.I., and four other cities will launch the "Catholics Come Home" advertising blitz during Advent, the period before Christmas.

It begins on a darkened stage. Someone chants. The sound of water flows from speakers. The lights come up slowly in imitation of dawn. A gong sounds, and five monks walk in procession onto the stage. The first one carries a candle and stops in front of an altar and an image of Buddha. The others stand behind him. In quick succession they kneel and stand, kneel and stand. The ritual, performed by South Korea's Young San Preservation Group at the Irvine Barclay Theatre this month, is meant to awaken the forces of the natural world.

Ken Ober, a comedian and actor who as host of MTV's "Remote Control" in the 1980s guided the raucous question-and-answer trivia contests on the irreverent cable TV game show, was found dead Sunday at his home in Santa Monica. He was 52. Lee Kernis of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, who represented Ober, confirmed the death but said the cause was unknown. According to Kernis, friends said Ober had been feeling ill with a headache and flu-like symptoms Saturday and did not meet them later as planned.

Thank you for your article on how Jews are portrayed in movies. It is a thoughtful piece. However, Lewis Beale describes Paul Newman as "half Jewish." Judaism is a religion, not an ethnic group or race. No one can be "half Jewish". My father was Catholic. Does this make me "half Catholic"? Nancy Hoover Apple Valley -- On the one hand, Lewis Beale states that the more or less complete assimilation of certain male Jewish film and TV characters is sometimes felt to be "particularly empowering because their religion is essentially irrelevant."

Liesl Bradner's article ["Iran, Seen Anew," Jan. 25] was superb. Journalist and photographer Iason Athanasiadis has shown us that the Iranians seem to have a great duality of religion mixed with a culture composed of wisdom, beauty and love. Evan Dale Santos Adelanto

Re "Thou may not discriminate," editorial, Feb. 9 I agree that anyone should be considered for employment at any faith-based organization. There is, however, nothing wrong with disqualifying a person if he or she cannot support the organization's mission statement. Government support must be based on the work and the results being achieved. Just as no test of religion can be applied to anyone working for the government, no test of religion can be applied to the religious or nonreligious motivation of organizations working for the government.

Re "Aligning treatment plan with God's plan," March 18 This article describes the lengths to which many people of religious faith will go, suffering indescribable pain and misery when they use any means available to delay an inevitable death. It clarified for me one of the hypocrisies of organized religion. By pulling out every trick in the book to avoid the inevitable, these patients are in fact defying God's intention -- that they must die -- in prolonging life through artificial means.