Last week I wrote about Bibi Netanyahu’s attempt to use religious authority to create support for a strike on Iran. There are many problems with going down this path – and I should add that Netanyahu is not unique in this regard; there is a long history of Israeli and even American officials seeking Rav Ovadia Yosef’s approval for various national security initiatives – but one of the bigger ones is that once you allow politics to be influenced by... Read more

Representative Todd Akin’s comment suggesting that “legitimate rape” cannot lead to pregnancy has stirred up a storm of controversy over the past few days. Meanwhile, the Republicans, while roundly criticizing Akin for his political faux pas, have put forward a platform calling for a federal ban on abortion with no exceptions for victims of rape.For the record, I am no fan of abortion. Still, it’s offensive to me that so many rich white men are presuming to discuss and legislate... Read more

One of my heroes, Mahatma Gandhi once said that “God has no religion.” Regardless of what name you call God, our only real purpose here on earth is to achieve union with God. As children of Abraham, we have created our own problems by trying to claim God for ourselves. When in fact, the root cause of believing that God only serves you and your people is ignorance. As a yogi, we believe that this is simply ignorance of self.... Read more

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is scheduled to deliver the concluding benediction at the Republican National Convention next week, after Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech. The Eternal Word Television Network leaked word of Dolan’s appearance last night in a press release about Romney’s exclusive appearance, to be aired tonight, on the program “The World Over.” The news — both its substance and the venue in which it was conveyed — make clear three things: that... Read more

The Forgotten Prophet: Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and the African American Prophetic Tradition, by Andre E. Johnson, is a study of the prophetic rhetoric of 19th century African Methodist Episcopal Church bishop Henry McNeal Turner. By locating Turner within the African American prophetic tradition, Johnson examines how Bishop Turner adopted a prophetic persona. As one of America’s earliest black activists and social reformers, Bishop Turner made an indelible mark in American history and left behind an enduring social influence through... Read more

Mitt Romney tried to capture the essence of what his religion meant to him in a little-noticed 1995 commencement address at his prep school. His Mormon faith, Romney said, is “one of the most important treasures of my life.” It is a treasure that Romney, as a political candidate, has kept mostly in a private place — until recently. Now there are signs his protectiveness is easing. On Sunday, in what was described as a first for his candidacy, he... Read more

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), his party’s candidate in the Missouri Senate race to unseat Democrat Claire McCaskill, has quickly attempted to retract his comment that in cases of “legitimate rape,” women have biological defenses against pregnancy. “I misspoke,” he claimed in a carefully crafted statement. After all, cleaning up the mess after the candidate not misspoke, but spoke his mind on television, is what campaigns do to pretend that the candidate is not a loon. The strategy is not unlike... Read more

Hilde Løvdal and Randall Stephens: Why did the two of you take on this project, which became your book, The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America (UNC Press, 2012)? Paul Harvey and Ed Blum: On one level, the book began the first times we recognized that the Jesus images surrounding us in churches, Sunday schools, and on movie screens had histories. The book came from that feeling of dissonance when we saw... Read more

The line was long, but it kept moving, and although the sun was warm, the air was finally cooler than it had been for so many hot weeks. Thousands of us were entering the outdoor arena by the Mississippi River to hear the president and the first lady. We passed a small group from the opposing political party with their banners. Well enough. But one sign bothered me: “Mr. Obama, this is a Christian nation.” You see, I am a... Read more

On July 20, just after James Holmes wounded 58 and killed 12 people at the opening of the latest Batman film at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, The Telegraph published a “history of mass shootings in the US since Columbine”—a list of nearly 30 shooting sprees with lethal results. Ne’er-do-wells who merely wounded didn’t make the cut. Thus, not included on the list was a shooting spree in an Alabama bar with a multiple arson warm-up just two days earlier.... Read more