Russian pilgrims visit a remote forest shrine. Pew Research reveals the relationship between religious Americans and science. And the tricky balance between community tradition and assimilation is examined by an American Jews. It's Faithful Friday, our weekly take on news about faiths and religious communities from around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Pagans in general have a strong veneration of nature. But we're not the only religious community to value the wilderness. This article from The Guardian takes a look at a forest shrine in the small town of Kodiak visited by Russian Orthodox pilgrims.

Should we teach about religion in schools? Mind you, we're not talking about teaching theology and religious dogma, but rather teaching students about religions. Melinda D. Anderson, writing for The Atlantic, speaks both Linda K. Wertheimer about why interfaith education is important.

What do religious Americans think of science? Often the interpretation runs that religious people are, as a rule, opposed to science. But apparently that's not what Pew Research found.

How far should a religious or ethnic minority go in assimilating into the larger culture? Should community traditions or blending in with the wider culture come first? Rabbi Ben Greenberg writes about the tricky balance between assimilation and self-isolation and how it's dividing the modern Jewish community.

Two facts have been established by demographic analyses of religion in America. First, Americans are growing more secular. But secondly, they don't appear to be growing more atheistic. How do we reconcile these two facts when it is generally assumed that secularism and atheism go together? The Weekly has a hypothesis.