Photos, 2013

Nuns walk during the Sunday Easter mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion of Christ, in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 31, 2013. 

Alan: I am increasingly struck that the garments of Catholic nuns are very much like the robes worn by many Islamic women.
I think "Christendom" is a few hundred years more "advanced" than "Greater Arabee."

With time compression, I expect Islamic society to catch up with the secular West in 50 years.

s

Two Polish nuns look at people bathing as hundreds of thousands of young Catholic pilgrims attending World Youth Day (WYD) start gathering at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro for a prayer vigil with Pope Francis, on July 27, 2013. In a speech to Brazil's political, religious and civil society leaders earlier, Pope Francis said a "constructive dialogue" was needed to confront the country's social turmoil, referring to the massive street protests that rocked Brazil last month to demand an end to corruption and better public services. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP / Getty Images)

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Pakistani Kushti wrestlers warm up before attending their daily training session, at a wrestling club in Lahore, Pakistan, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Kushti, an Indo-Pakistani form of wrestling, is several thousand years old and is a national sport in Pakistan. (Muhammed Muheisen / AP)

Sanjeev Syal / AP

A Sikh youth performs an act of fire as he displays martial art skills during a religious procession on the eve of birth anniversary of Guru Ram Das in Amritsar, India, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013. Ram Das was the fourth of the ten gurus of Sikhism. (Sanjeev Syal / AP)

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Robotic jockeys control camels during a race at Dubai Camel Racing Club during the Al Marmoum camel racing season on November 17, 2013 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Camel racing is one of the oldest sports in the Middle East. Historically children from India were used as jockeys on the camels until it was outlawed in 2002. Today robot jockeys are used and include shock absorbers and GPS tracking systems. The camel's owners control the robot's whips from their speeding four wheel drives at the side of the track. Thoroughbred racing camels can be as valuable as one million US dollars. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)