Religion

Ayad Akhtar's debut novel, American Dervish, tells the story of a Pakistani-American boy in Milwaukee coming to terms with his religion and identity. Akbar drew on his own experiences exploring the Muslim faith as a teenager growing up in Wisconsin.

The actor plays a righteous federal agent who succumbs to all sorts of temptations on the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire. To build the character of Nelson Van Alden, he says, he worked out an elaborate back story about the agent's childhood.

Several apostles affiliated with the movement helped organize or spoke at Rick Perry's recent prayer rally. A leading apostle, C. Peter Wagner, talks about the movement and its missions, which include acquiring leadership positions in government, the media, and arts and entertainment.

A new Christian movement that seeks to take dominion over politics, business and culture in preparation for the end times and Jesus' return is becoming more of a presence in American politics. Rachel Tabachnick, who researches the religious right, explains its beliefs and influences.

New York Times reporter Angela Elliott profiles the Brooklyn lawyer behind the anti-Shariah movement. She says David Yerushlami "has come to exercise a striking influence over American public discourse about Shariah."

Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk about their blasphemous, hilarious and oddly endearing Broadway hit, which led the Tony nominations field this year — and will probably go down in history as the only Broadway musical ever to combine Mormons, Uganda, filthy language and a chorus line.

Pastor Jennifer Knust says that the Bible shouldn't be used as a guidebook for marriage or sexuality because passages related to sex, monogamy, homosexuality and gender roles are more complex and nuanced than popular culture has led us to believe.

New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright explains how he found a number of inconsistencies between documents the Church of Scientology says are official records of founder L. Ron Hubbard's war service and the actual official military records that Wright obtained.

Reynolds Price, the acclaimed writer known for his evocative novels and stories about rural North Carolina, died in Durham on Thursday. He was 77. Fresh Air remembers the writer with excerpts taken from several interviews he gave over the past 20 years.

More than half of the world's Muslims live along the latitude line 700 miles north of the equator — so do most of the world's Christians. It's a place where ideological conflicts often arise. Journalist Eliza Griswold spent seven years examining how the two religions influence clashes over natural resources, tribal issues and faith.