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  • The Word Unchained0

    Screening books and other materials available to prison inmates on the basis of their potential to incite violence and for sexually explicit content has been the norm in prison systems nationwide. But when U.S. prison officials created a list of approved books and materials last spring and took the excluded non-Scripture prayer and hymnal books,

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  • The Man on the White Horse!0

    Time for the cavalry? Since 9/11 it seems we've been living out a darker model of action. Sort of like the ill-famed charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War. If you've read the famous poem of that event you'll appreciate the brave stupidity of Lord Raglan's order for the brigade to charge several

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  • Pray Tell0

    If it were possible for a politician to sue voters for religious discrimination, Mitt Romney would have an open-and-shut case against the Republican electorate. Here is a man possessing all the known qualifications for the job of GOP presidential nominee—strong communication skills, a successful governorship, total agreement on every issue, Reaganesque hair—and yet he may

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  • No Pictures, Please0

    Legislation requiring photo identification of all drivers, passed in 2003 by the Alberta government, may soon see the demise of a small agrarian sector of this prairie province of Canada. After all, the ability to drive is necessary in a farming operation, for the farmer has to be able to get supplies and feed for

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  • Candor And Civility0

    Academic freedom, as an idea and as a way of life, has entered its second century in a moment of political, economic, and military turmoil with distinct sectarian overtones. The "Melting Pot" has become a seething cauldron unlike anything America has seen before. We see dragons under every bed, witches behind every door, and a

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  • A Church-State Judgement Call0

    On Monday, October 1, 2007, six Supreme Court justices attended the 54th Annual "Red Mass" at the Cathedral of St. Matthew, and there is reason to feel some unease with respect to their presence at the event. No political candidate or judge gives up their First Amendment protections simply by election or appointment. Public officials

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  • The Passing of the Christian Right0

    "Nearly 30 years after religious conservatives decided to reenter the political arena—after abandoning it as 'dirty' and leading to compromise—what do they have to show for it? The country remains sharply divided and the reconciling message they used to preach has been obscured by the crass pursuit of the golden ring of political power. In

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  • The Myth of a Christian Nation0

    Funny that I read The Myth of a Christian Nation the week Jerry Falwell died, because Falwell, in his own inimitable way, personified the thesis expounded in Boyd's book. I go back with Jerry Falwell to the early 1980s. I have often stated, somewhat facetiously, that I got my start as a writer by bashing

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  • The Dinosaur of Fundamentalism0

    A few days ago I went with my two children on a school outing to the Science Museum at the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Kids love science—or at least the apparent mystery that goes along with the topic. For example, the spinning wheel with black dashes on a white face that appears to be two other

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