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 StanleyEssay
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 BornsteinEssay
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 MuellerEssay
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. CarlsonEssay
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 StaufferEssay
The End Is Always with Us: The 40th Anniversary of “A Thief in the Night”
I hadn’t heard the song that opens the 1972 Christian apocalyptic film A Thief in the Night in decades, and my impression of it was: …
By Amy FrykholmEssay
Is 2012 America’s “Catholic Moment?”
For many politicos and pundits, Mitt Romney’s ascendancy to the top of Republican presidential ticket has marked the high point—so far—of the much-hyped “Mormon Moment.” …
By David GibsonEssay
Post-Racial America? The Tangle of Race, Religion, and Citizenship
The election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States brought questions about race in America to the forefront of political and social …
By Judith WeisenfeldEssay
What Does Shari’a Really Mean?
In August, Representative Joe Walsh spoke to constituents at a town hall meeting in Elk Grove, Illinois, about radical Islam, noting, “It’s in Addison. It’s …
By Krystina FriedlanderEssay
The Anniversary of Kennedy’s Landmark Speech on Religion
On September 12, 1960, John F. Kennedy gave his now-famous speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. In front of the Protestant ministers in attendance …
By The Editors