Jack Kugelmass is an anthropology professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he is also director of its Jewish studies center. He specializes in American and European Jewry, Israel and Jews in New York.

Read a column about Diwali gift-giving by author Arthur Magida, posted at Beliefnet.com.

Read a story, posted at Beliefnet.com, about how Hindus in America celebrate Diwali.

The Roman Catholic Church welcomes thousands of new believers into the faith each year at Easter Vigil. Some are converts from Protestantism, but those who are new Christians make the sacraments of baptism, First Eucharist and confirmation all in one momentous night. Read the blog of a lifelong Methodist who became a Catholic during Easter vigil 2005.

Read about Torie Bosch’s personal account of celebrating and recognizing Christmas as a secular holiday.

Read the opinion of Annie L. Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, to remove Christmas as a federally recognized holiday and replace it with a more secular holiday.

Read a Dec. 21, 2000, Associated Press story posted by the Cincinnati Enquirer about a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that Christmas can continue to be a legal holiday, as it has been since 1870, because it has a secular purpose.

Read a Feb. 17, 2013, New York Times article about the debate over religious federal holidays in the U.S.