Guest Post

This week, the State Department announced that Christian ethicist Shaun Casey will lead its new office for “religious engagement.” Within the network of the State Department’s various offices, this one stands out as potentially divisive and potentially useful. Under Hillary Clinton, the State Department turned its attention to nontraditional diplomatic partners—and she intentionally engaged, among others, religious partners. That focus has continued under John Kerry, resulting in the official announcement of this office. But the U.S. government continues to face the issue of how exactly to engage religion.

New today from the Century: John Buchanan on missing church, Amy Frykholm on the State Department and religion, more.

Sociologists are reputed to be masters of suspicion, and many keep their distance from religious belief and practice. Robert Bellah’s field was the sociology of religion, and the longtime University of California, Berkeley professor—who died last week—certainly knew the value of “distance” in this and all human sciences. But as he studied people of faith and their practice—whether in “Tokugawa Religion” in Japan (his doctoral dissertation subject) or in America—he discerned integrity and value in the faith(s) of many.

New today from the Century: The editors on how liberal Protestantism has changed, Martin Marty remembers Robert Bellah, more.

New today from the Century: The new face of urban ecumenism, remembering the Nairobi embassy bombing, more.

“Nairobi has been bombed,” said Amina Bakari, my Kenyan host mother. I'd woken up late that morning 15 years ago.

The Friends of the Earth Middle East scored a victory this summer when some 9 million cubic meters of fresh water per year started flowing into the Jordan River.

New today (and yesterday) from the Century: LGBT Disciples, Protestant book recommendations, praying the Daily Office, more.

New today from the Century: Sarah Kenyon Lischer on proof of heaven, Lee Hull Moses on her sheep pajamas, more.

New today from the Century: Brian Doyle remembers grade school, MaryAnn McKibben Dana on myths about call, more.

New today from the Century: Stephaniel Paulsell on the church and the humanities, Tony Robinson reviews Christopher Beeley, more.

New today from the Century: An Asian religion called Christianity, the good question Fox asked Reza Aslan badly, more.

New today from the Century: Poverty babies, what scientists and theologians talk about, more.

Let me get this straight: Ryan Braun gets paid north of $20 million a year to be the aw-shucks kid turned Joe DiMaggio, the face of the Milwaukee Brewers, and the great white hope of a metro area that has never come to terms with its racial diversity. And we're supposed to be shocked and angry that he acts like a spoiled celebrity?

New today from the Century: Jason Byassee on the "clergy killers" doc, Dan Schultz on Ryan Braun, more.

According to a recent survey by the Brookings Institution and the Public Religion Research Institute, Americans remain deeply divided on economic values. But the most significant findings may be religious, not economic.

The reevaluation of liberal Protestantism and its real but perhaps overstated decline—a topic that the Century has covered with this review, and related commentary by Martin Marty and by John Buchanan—was picked up by the New York Times this week. The Times story does a decent job summarizing the debate, in which the overarching question is posed by historian David Hollinger (interviewed by the Century last year): Did liberal Protestants of midcentury win the culture war but lose the church?

New today from the Century: Awet Andemicael on airport encounters with Good Samaritans, John Fea reviews Martin Duberman's biography of Howard Zinn, more.