This year my Summer Reading List is definitely testing the boundaries of summer. But I claim as justification the fact that the days are still warm an...
Those hardy readers looking for good books to read by the hearthside will discover several recent titles that combine good writing and captivating sub...
Where in the Bible is the Christmas story to be found? Understandably, the instinct of most Christians is to turn to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, ...
Image of an old Holy Bible on wooden background in a dark space
This article is an excerpt from my book, The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord’s Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution. This post is th...
Should pharmacists be required to dispense so-called "emergency contraceptives" even if it violates their deepest convictions? That is no longer a hypothetical question, as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich recently issued an executive rule requiring ...
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA] Church Council released its recommendations to the denomination's Churchwide Assembly on issues related to sexuality on April 11, 2005, setting the stage for what promises to be one of the most acrimo ...
When Christian Smith and his fellow researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took a close look at the religious beliefs held by American teenagers, they found that the faith held and ...
"American teenagers can embody adults' highest hopes and most gripping fears." That statement introduces an important new study on the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. Led by principal investigator Christian Smith, a group of rese ...
The last two centuries have witnessed a massive transformation in the way human beings live, think, work, and arrange their lives. At the same time, the institution of the family has been under sustained attack, in turns dismembered and disabled by c ...
Those who think demographic statistics should be of interest only to social scientists and policy wonks should pay close attention to Stanley Kurtz's recent article, "Demographics and the Culture War," published in the current edition of Policy Revie ...
The Colorado Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court's decision reversing the sentence of a murderer who had been given the death penalty. Why? Because the jurors were found to have consulted the Bible in reaching their decision. In this case, t ...
The death of Pope John Paul II brings one of the Roman Catholic Church's longest papal reigns to an end and closes the last chapter on one of the most significant lives of our times. By any measure, John Paul II was one of the most influential figure ...
Our nation's political rhetoric is filled with references to unity and national cohesiveness. Nevertheless, this unity is often more superficial than substantial, and talk of national unity wears thin when the culture appears to be ripping apart at t ...
The sad case of Terri Schiavo has been a wake-up call for many Americans, and has brought to public attention the complex of medical realities and moral decisions that characterize our postmodern age. Medicine has made remarkable advances in recent d ...