Issue 26: Gospel

MARCH 4, 2025

The gospel according to whom? Religious dogma may no longer have the same hold on society, but other forms of certainty now fill the void — tradition, digital echo chambers, political leaders who “tell it like it is.” This month’s issue interrogates the struggle to arrive at the truth and the ways in which belief warps reality.

From the Munich Security Conference, Caitlin Chandler grapples with a world in which spending on weapons trumps all else. From Buenos Aires, Anita Pouchard Serra and Natalie Alcoba document how access to abortion has eroded under a president who believes the procedure is “aggravated murder.” And from a small town in Belgium, Emilien Hofman tells the story of a metal worker who decided to start his own religion.

We also bring you a short story by Indian writer Banu Mushtaq, artfully translated by Deepa Bhasthi, about a wealthy woman who breaks a promise while on Hajj, and three poems by Iraqi poet Sinan Antoon, translated by Sara Elkamel. (Both of these authors were recently longlisted for the International Booker prize!) And in an essay, Nigerian writer Abubakar Adam Ibrahim considers the writer’s role in the pursuit of truth.

— The Editors