Trump’s Yiddish Trash Talk Launches the Great ‘Schlong’ Debate of 2015
As the great sage Toby Ziegler once said, “Don’t bring the Yiddish unless you know…
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Amazing Grace: Obama Hits a Blue Note in Charleston
If Sunday morning at 11 o’clock is Christian America’s most segregated hour, then “Amazing Grace”…
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Why This Lie? Brian Williams’ Pulpit Fiction
The deafening whomp-whomp-whomp you may have heard when Brian Williams got caught in a lie…
Read MoreIslam is as American as…
In Monday’s New York Times, I wrote a fairly innocuous sentence that was upsetting to some:…
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A Church With a Hole In Its Heart: An Excerpt from Peter Manseau’s “One Nation Under Gods”
In the dry red soil of Chimayo, New Mexico, there is a hole in the…
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How Did the Buddha Become a Medieval Saint?
When Saint Francis Xavier attempted to bring Christianity to Asia in the middle of the…
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Atheist Holiday Display: “A” Does Not Stand for “Art”
News last week that holiday decorations in Chicago’s Daley Plaza will be joined this year by a light-up “A” for atheism served as a reminder that though the anti-religion camp may claim victory over believers on many fronts, iconography is not one of them.
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The American Media’s Longterm Ambivalence About the Papacy
No matter whose name eventually emerges from the fog of smoke over the Vatican this week, it’s safe to say his face will soon grace the cover of Time. Just under the wire for Holy Week, the traditional season of religiously themed magazine covers.
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The Papal Prayer Machine
With Twitter, there is just the right mix of calculable dissemination and mystery. You know who has retweeted or favorited your prayer, but what of the followers of the followers of the followers who follow you who did not retweet or favorite but may have read and been affected by your prayer?
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What Should the Vatican Say to the (Last Generation of) Nuns?
It’s easy to understand the Vatican’s consternation when faced with sisters radical enough to think their own thoughts and write them down. Nuns aren’t trained to be troublemakers.
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