Science
Report
The Religious Roots of the Wilderness Act
When Howard Zahniser was drafting the Wilderness Act—which marks its 50th anniversary today—he confided to a colleague that he wished he were writing poetry instead. …
By Michael Schulson
Essay
Why Anti-Vaccination Movements Can Never Be Tamed
In Victorian England, nearly a century after the physician Edward Jenner had shown that exposure to the cowpox virus, or vaccinia, conferred immunity to smallpox, …
By Elizabeth Yale
Essay
Hobby Lobby, Wheaton College, and a New Religious Order
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court handed down its much-awaited decision in Hobby Lobby, holding that closely held business corporations are “persons” endowed with religious …
By Sarah Barringer Gordon and Nomi Stolzenberg
Essay
What the Show Cosmos Gets Wrong about Religion—and Science
In its third episode, titled “When Knowledge Conquered Fear,” the new Cosmos reboot, hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, tells the story of the discovery …
By Elizabeth Yale
The States Project
Maine: A Spiritual Frontier Opens for Business
A Spiritual Frontier Opens for Business.
By Brook Wilensky-Lanford
Review
Darwin, Hitler, and the Hijacking of Evolutionary Theory
Was Hitler a Darwinian? Disputed Questions in the History of Evolutionary Theory By Robert J. RichardsThe University of Chicago Press, 2013 Biology is not ideology. But with evolution, …
By Michael Schulson
Interview
Technology, Memory, and Jewish History: An Interview with Novelist Dara Horn
What are the proper limits of technology in our personal lives? Dara Horn’s new novel, A Guide for the Perplexed, takes up this question as …
By Rachel Gordan
Essay
Texas Textbooks: A Case Study for Creationism’s Staying Power
The Texas textbook wars have finally yielded a win for the Enlightenment. In November, the state school board delayed final approval of a biology textbook …
By Molly Worthen
The Table
We Must Teach about Religion in High Schools
In September, Hendersonville High School in Hendersonville, Tennessee, made national news when it suspended field trips to religious sites as part of an elective class …
By Joseph Laycock
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