Essay
The End of DOMA and the Dismantling of the “Straight State”
Advocates for marriage equality came away from yesterday’s Supreme Court pronouncements on same-sex marriage more jubilant than battered. But there was plenty of hurt to …
By Sarah Barringer Gordon
Essay
Why I Fight Against Same-Sex Marriage
Rich Stearns is a servant, a Wharton grad who leapt from the top of corporate America and landed in a stream, knees bent bracing. Arms …
By Eric Teetsel
Essay
Unrepresentative: How the NRA and Planned Parenthood Failed Recent Tests
The donor rolls of the National Rifle Association and Planned Parenthood do not share many of the same names. But these organizations’ responses to the …
By Michael Peppard
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
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