Review: Is the Religious Right Dying?
A crop of new books on the waning influence of conservative Christianity in American politics.
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Good Friday vs. Easter in the Mayan Riviera
What (and where) holidays mean; when the bloody demise of Jesus resonates more than the triumph over death.
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Religion vs. Girls’ Education
Cultural and religious forces are often arrayed against girls when it comes to the right to education. Religion, in particular—whether it’s Islamic legal law or an evangelical Christian aversion to evolution—is often evoked to bar girls from school.
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Take It Off, Or We’ll Make You: On Sarkozy’s Proposed Burqa Ban
When you step out in clothing that boldly states your womanhood, you are a free woman. You are no longer a slave to old rules and notions. Modernity is inherently free.
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Misreading Neda and Judges 19: Death of Young Iranian Woman Is Not a Rallying Cry for War
Some, like Paul Wolfowitz, have criticized Obama for not responding to the Iranian election violence, symbolized by Neda, more aggressively.
Read MoreThe Qawwali-Gospel, a Cross-Cultural Musical Experiment
Attempts at the recent Muslim Voices festival to reinvent the qawwali, of having it cross-fertilize with other musics, made the concert seem so promising as a closing event.
Read MoreUpdated: New Riverside Pastor Steps Down; Where Does That Leave Progressive Christianity?
After several months of vocal opposition to Rev. Braxton’s compensation package, the Rhodes Scholar will not lead one of the nation’s premier progressive institutions.
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Ten Commandments of the Antichrist: The Georgia Guidestones
Back in 1980, a mysterious set of stones bearing a message for civilization in various languages appeared in Georgia. From Christian dispensationalist symbol of the New World Order to Native American “power-nexus” to the interpretations of Contemporary Pagans, UFO buffs, and New Agers, the Guidestones are a spiritual and political Rorschach test.
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Teaching the Dalai Lama’s Monks: Better Religion Through Science
A scientist/professor in an experimental program teaching science to the Dalai Lama’s monks explains why this project is so much bigger than this one program, bigger even than working to reconcile religion and science. Think: globalization.
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Economy Yields Too Few Prophets
Few mainstream journalists are truly capturing the reality of the economy in terms of the nation’s worst off. As of last month, the actual number of workers in crisis is not the 14 million but more like 29 million, or 18 percent of the total workforce. Where are the religious coalitions willing to challenge the president’s policies?
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