BATESVILLE, Miss. — Before dawn, a Buddhist monk stands beneath a tall pine in a long brown robe the color of Mother Earth. He rings a bronze bell suspended from a low-hanging limb to signal it’s time for walking meditation. By the light of a crescent moon, monks and nuns in the same brown robes [...]

They came with Bibles in hand and lawn chairs under their arms. They came in dress pants and flip flops, camouflage and overalls. They walked up Mississippi Hwy. 25, a road lined with American flags the way a parade route might be marked for Veterans Day or the Fourth of July. But at Smithville Baptist Church, [...]