Culture | Religion & Politics

Report

Evangelical Ketubah, Messianic Mezuzah: Judaica for Christians

Carrie Love is a self-professed “Scripture nerd.” Raised in an evangelical church in Louisiana, she now lives in Manhattan where she works at an educational …

By Hillary Kaell

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

Profile

Idol Worship: The Beatitudes of Lady Gaga

One evening in the spring of 2011, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, more popularly known as Lady Gaga, rolled down the window of her car to …

By Xarissa Holdaway

Review

The Father of Modern Political Cartoons

Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political CartoonsBy Fiona Deans HalloranUniversity of North Carolina Press, 2012 For those of us who work on American religion …

By Leigh Eric Schmidt

Excerpt

Book Culture and the Rise of Liberal Religion

In 1904 the Quaker mystic and philosopher Rufus Jones published Social Law in the Spiritual World with a grand ambition. “The cure for skepticism,” Jones …

By Matthew S. Hedstrom

Report

When Was the Last Time a Rabbi Prayed at a Presidential Inauguration?

Last week, President Obama’s inaugural committee caused quite a stir after it announced who would be praying during the president’s second inauguration. Myrlie Evers-Williams, …

By Rachel Gordan

Report

Did Congress Meet on Christmas Day? Fact-checking the “War on Christmas”

Last November, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican turned independent, sent out invitations to the state’s annual tree lighting ceremony and referred to …

By Bruce David Forbes