Category: Social Issues
Justice, Osama bin Laden, and American Civil Religion
As I sat on my couch scanning Twitter and listening to the President describe the killing of Osama bin Laden, I realized that this was a high moment in American civil religion. Thanks to a couple coll... Read More
Defamation and Debate: The Conversation Within
The conversation within a faith is painful and challenging because it can feel like a battle for the identity of the faith itself, and by extension, our own identity. It’s easy to think that differe... Read More
How Hoops Can Fix Your Oops (or, A Lighthearted Treatise on the Wisdom of Basketball’s Justice)
Let’s talk about the cost of the clink: With the United States having the highest incarceration rate in the industrialized world, with costs to maintain it soaring, and with high recidivism, most Am... Read More
What Do Americans Really Believe?
Are mega-churches more intimate than small congregations? Are atheists more superstitious or likely to believe in the paranormal than conservative Christians? Do many Americans believe some "non-relig... Read More
Chaos, Apparently
I thoroughly enjoy reading David Brooks’ columns in The New York Times. I particularly enjoy his columns parsing social science literature. How many columnists in the United States, or anywhere ... Read More
Did Religious Extremism Kill Vittorio Arrigoni?
Last week, human rights activist Vittorio Arrigoni was murdered in Gaza. Found strangled in an abandoned home, Vittorio was an outspoken humanitarian and peacemaker since arriving in Gaza in 2009 on ... Read More
New Beginnings: Fear and Hope
This post (the first of two) reflects on the fears and hopes that mark new beginnings. What is there to fear for a Christian on Easter morning? What is there to fear for a parent of a newborn child? W... Read More
Demonstration Denied in Dearborn; Dawud Declares Doubts
Anti-Islam pastor Terry Jones takes his show to Michigan…or at least attempts to. In a bid to become to Muslims what Fred Phelps has been to gays and the military, Jones announced that he and hi... Read More