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September 2026

September 09, 2026

I Watched the Towers Fall. Here’s What You Missed

What You May Not Know About September 11 It's a struggle to describe the enormity...

September 25, 2025

New Texas School Prayer Law Seems a Tad Fuzzy

Texas has a new prayer in public school law that went into effect September 1. ...

July 2025

July 02, 2025

The Dalai Lama’s 90th Birthday and What Happens Next

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama will be 90 years old on July 6, 2025....

May 2024

May 19, 2024

Louisiana Passes a Ten Commandments in Public Schools Bill

The Louisiana legislature just passed a bill mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in...

January 2024

January 26, 2024

Why Are There More Nones?

Why are there more nones? The "nones," you probably know, are people who have no...

October 2023

October 12, 2023

Reflections on War and Religion

A horrific new war involving Israel and Gaza evokes the old subject of war and...

September 2023

September 18, 2023

Faith and Football: What’s the Deal With Prayers Before Games?

What's the deal with prayers before football games? I don't know when it became the...

August 2023

August 20, 2023

Oklahoma Approves a Religious Charter School

Last month, the state of Oklahoma approved the first religious charter school in the nation....

July 2023

July 03, 2023

The Rev. Edgar Gardner Murphy and the Movement to End Child Labor

Child labor is making a comeback in the U.S. Several states are passing laws to...

May 2023

May 02, 2023

Coronations in Westminster Abbey: A History

King Charles's coronation on May 6 will be a really fancy Anglican Church service, and...

March 2023

March 12, 2023

The Determined Buddhist Nuns of Sri Lanka

The Buddhist nuns of Sri Lanka have needed determination for there to be nuns at...

January 2023

January 03, 2023

Why Pope Gregory XII Resigned

Newspaper obituaries of the late Pope Emertus Benedict XVI (1927-2022) mention that he was the...

November 2022

November 23, 2022

Arguments Against the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

I've written a number of columns looking at issues involving religion and the U.S. Constitution....

November 21, 2022

Jefferson’s Wall of Separation Between Church and State

There is no more controversial phrase in U.S. history than Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation...

November 18, 2022

Thomas Jefferson v. Establishment of Religion

In the 18th century establishment of religion, or designating an official state religion, was common...

November 16, 2022

James Madison and Religious Freedom

Among the U.S. founding fathers, nobody cared more about religious freedom than James Madison. Madison...

November 12, 2022

The Problem With Bible Readings in U.S. Public Schools

In 1956, a student in a public high school near Philadelphia protested his school's daily...

November 10, 2022

When the U.S. Supreme Court Didn’t Ban School Prayer

It has been sixty years since a U.S. Supreme Court decision ended class recitations of...

October 2022

October 29, 2022

A Brief History of Christian Nationalism: Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority

This is a continuation of A Brief History of Christian Nationalism that will look at...

October 27, 2022

Christian Nationalism: Power, Politics, & a Distorted Gospel

Christian nationalism is much in the news these days, at least in the United States....

September 2022

September 28, 2022

Journalism Versus Religion

There is a new Global Faith and Media Study on how news media cover religion...

September 23, 2022

The Myth of the Christian Nation

One of the most persistent popular themes of American history is that the United States...

September 05, 2022

Saint Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church: The Little Chapel That Stood

St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church, New York City, is an old Episcopal church with...

August 2022

August 29, 2022

The Ten Commandments and the Origins of Law

Is U.S. law based on the Ten Commandments? Over the years, many in the U.S....

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