David Heim
Obama's bind
Black public figures seem to fall into one of two categories: they either project a militant resistance to white ...
In the Light of Christ
Great works in the Western literary tradition are incomprehensible apart from Christianity....
Whodunit? A 9/11 conspiracy theory: A 9/11 conspiracy theory
According to theologian David Ray Griffin, the attacks of 9/11 were not the work of jihadist suicidal terrorists but were orchestrated by the Bush administration to provide the pretext for its mili...
Voters and values: The divided mind of the religious left
“Lo and behold there is a religious left,” declared an article in Slate. “The religious left is back,” announced the Washington Post. The evidence? An increase in blogging and organizing, as well as best-selling books by Jim Wallis, Michael Lerner and and Jimmy Carter.The rise of the religious left provides a natural journalistic lead because it plays against type. The persistent assumption, at least among mainstream media, is that Christians are politically active only on the conservative side.
Parking lot palms
Toward the end of Zadie Smith’s shrewd and entertaining novel, Kiki Simmonds gets into an argument with her husband, Howard Belsey: “All you ever do is rip into everybo...
World without Roe? The politics of abortion: The politics of abortion
Gearing up for a battle over the next appointment to the Supreme Court, groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America and the National Organization for Women have been warning of the imminent collapse of ...
The 'least bad' option?
The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq. By Kenneth M. Pollack. Random House, 494 pp., $29.95.
...The kingdom of baseball
There is a brief scene in The Great Gatsby in which narrator Nick Carraway is introduced to the man who fixed the 1919 World Series. Nick is stunned by the notion....
God in the grave
Did God die on a hill outside Jerusalem? Was it not only Jesus of Nazareth but somehow God himself who was hung on the cross and laid in the tomb?...
Judging Clinton: The religious debate
Do christian leaders have anything distinctive to say--or avoid saying--about the scandal in the White House and the impeachment of Bill Clinton?...
The World Council at 50: Seeking new terms of engagement
We intend to stay together." Delegates to the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches reaffirmed that commitment in a ceremony on December 13 in Harare, Zimbabwe, repeating a declaration m...
On African soil
For its 50th-anniversary assembly, the World Council of Churches considered returning to Amsterdam, the site of its founding. But in the end the WCC decided to look to the future, not the past....
Vouch for it? Vouchers and religious schools: Vouchers and religious schools
The founder of this magazine, Charles Clayton Morrison, was fiercely opposed to any form of government support for parochial schools....
American mayhem: School shootings
When did teenagers start gunning down their classmates and teachers? Over the past two years, nine different schools have become scenes of murder....