Education
The Table
To Teach or Not to Teach?
The question of whether religion should be taught in public schools has been debated at length. In theory, since the Supreme Court explained that we …
By Cynthia N. Dunbar
Essay
In Remembrance: Reading the Christmas Letters of Jean Bethke Elshtain (1941-2013)
This time of year is, for many, a season of hopefulness—of anticipation and celebration of joyous things to come. Yet, as the cards and letters …
By John D. Carlson
Essay
An Evolving Mormon Church Finally Addresses a Racist Past
Last Friday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) made history by confronting its own history. For the first time, the LDS Church …
By Max Perry Mueller
Excerpt
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, 150 Years Later
On November 19, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, at the dedication of America’s first national cemetery, on the site of the battle that had turned the …
By Stephen Prothero
Essay
Radical Mission: What is Aish HaTorah Trying to Teach Young Jews?
On my first visit to Jerusalem, in the summer of 2011, I asked an ultra-Orthodox Jew for directions to the nearest ritual bath. The man …
By Michael Schulson
Essay
Spike Lee’s “4 Little Girls” and the Aftershocks of the Birmingham Church Bombing
I was watching Spike Lee’s documentary 4 Little Girls when the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case was handed down. An alert flashed on my …
By Briallen Hopper
Report
How a Nun Turned a Monastery Garage into a Global Catholic News Network
In March of 1978, a 55-year-old cloistered nun named Mother Angelica went to Chicago. She was there to give workshops to supporters who would distribute …
By Renée K. Gadoua
Essay
“I Have a Dream”: The 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s Famous Speech
The Lincoln Memorial may be the most iconic place in the United States. Americans go there alone or with friends and family members to remember …
By Stephen Prothero
Essay
Remembering Robert Bellah
Where do we come from and go to? What are we here for? No one wrestled and played more deeply with these questions than did …
By Steven M. Tipton
Profile
Bill Cain: A Jesuit Playwright Explores War and Redemption
In April 2010, Father Robert Ver Eecke welcomed fellow Jesuit priest and playwright Bill Cain to a public forum at Boston College (BC). Modeled on …
By Robert Israel