Reporting yourself to the Inquisition

No one expects you to turn yourself in to the religious police. But that’s exactly what a hot-headed soldier did in 1589.

Read more

  • Current chance of rapture: %

  • Temperature in Hell today: °C

All Saints

Everyone had something to offer, as Jesus is our new manager now.
25 Nov 18
Upper Poppleton, Yorkshire, England
Pastor Orr dangles above his congregation in Mississippi

Lo! He comes on wires descending

Mississippi pastor drops in on his congregation to tell them about the Second Coming
30 Nov 18

St Michael and All Angels

Ghostly cut-outs in the pews, and an outbreak of conviviality that didn't include our reporter
25 Nov 18
Bedford Park, London
Photo of BBC Broadcasting House

Should Thought for the Day lose its religion?

OK, but wouldn't that make it like almost every other bit of the BBC?
14 Nov 18
Photo of church service sheet

Thanks a lot, Lord

When a Durham Cathedral service sheet took on the tone of a sulky teenager
14 Nov 18
Private Gerald Thompson

A Christian in Hell Fire Corner

Huw Spanner recently came across letters from the Western Front, written by his great-uncle, a devout evangelical Christian.
14 Nov 18
Photo of the title page of The Tryal of the Witnesses of the Ressurection of Jesus by Thomas Sherlock

A cold case from zero AD

A chance discovery in a secondhand bookshop opens up a history of books where the resurrection goes on trial
7 Nov 18
Photo of church service sheet with typo

A boob in the hymn sheet

Heaven alone knows whether the congregation were still able to sing after verse 4
22 Oct 18
Photo of a halloween pumpkin

Why Halloween should be part of the church year

First the church tried to subvert it, then sanitize it, but why not try embracing Halloween?
22 Oct 18
Screen grab of Jesus organ donation TV advertisement

Jesus cast as organ donor in TV ad

An Australian TV ad casts Jesus signing an organ donation form at the crucifixion
21 Oct 18
Photo of derelict church by Only2Eyes

Forgetting ourselves

It's getting harder to talk about faith, because God language is fading from western culture
20 Oct 18

Most popular

Sankt Katharinenkirche

An inspiring Bach cantata heard in this austere fortress of faith
31 Oct 18
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Holy Trinity

Lovely music at evensong and a dog to boot – or was it a ghost?
2 Sep 18
Blythburgh, Suffolk, England
Northminster Presbyterian, Phoenix, AZ (Exterior)

Northminster Presbyterian

A dog sings with the choir as the pastor preaches three sermons.
20 May 18
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Bristol Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Bristol, England.

30 Mar 13
Image of St Simeon the Holy Fool

Visit our patron saint

Drop in on St Simeon the Holy Fool, whose Feast Day we celebrate every 21st July
Engraving of the building of Noah's Ark

Tales of a tub

Read a quick history of Ship of Fools, going back to our original launch in 3000 BC
Image of people discussing around a table

Debate without end, amen

Join our forums, where debate has been raging for the whole of this millennium
Illustration of ocean liner

Help us stay the right way up

Ship of Fools is free, but staying afloat costs money. Please give to our Floating Fund
© Ship of Fools