Essay

North Carolina’s “Official Religion”: The Convoluted History of American States and Established Religions

Last week, in a move that seems more reminiscent of 1783 than 2013, North Carolina legislators proposed a bill declaring their right to establish an …

By Benjamin E. Park

Essay

Declaration of Conscience

On June 1, 1950, Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), a Republican Senator from Maine, delivered her “Declaration of Conscience” speech to the U.S. Senate. Though she …

By Margaret Chase Smith

Essay

Theology Has Consequences: What Policies Will Pope Francis Champion?

Now that the smoke has cleared from St. Peter’s Square, the future of the Roman Catholic Church is on the minds of many. Catholics are …

By Mary E. Hunt

Recent features

Essay

Can Atheists and Muslims Support Freedom of Conscience Together?

Thomas Jefferson once wrote: “But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks …

By Qasim Rashid and Chris Stedman

Essay

Why We Wait for a Non-European Pope

As Pope Benedict steps down this week, speculation stirs that the next pontiff could be a man of color or from outside Europe. And while …

By Tiffany Stanley

Essay

A Brief History of Papal Resignations

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, announced for February 28, is an action virtually without precedent. No pope has resigned in modern times. No pope …

By Daniel Bornstein

Essay

2012: The Moment of Mormon Diversity

While he officially secured the Republican nomination last March, Mitt Romney’s primary victories in January 2012 all but guaranteed that, for the first time in …

By Max Perry Mueller

Essay

A Moral Guide to Obama’s Foreign Policy

Three years ago today, President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. The awkward contexts of 2009 that accompanied, if not overshadowed, the award and his …

By John D. Carlson

Essay

The Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

On November 19, 1863, amid air faintly fetid from thousands of corpses waiting to be reburied, Edward Everett delivered a two-hour oration at the dedication …

By John Stauffer