In the Great Ecclesiastical Bake-Off of 2011 between the Royal Wedding and the Papal Beatification, the historian in me can only say that it’s terrific to see Westminster Abbey and St. Peter’s Basilica elbowing each other for pride of place in the public eye. And don’t the two look fabulous! Both events have been arranged…

The latest issue of Religion in the News is now online, with a veritable cornucopia of piquant pemmican. The cover story is Andrew Walsh’s definitive recapitulation of the past year’s Islamophobic extravaganza, accompanied by an excursus on America as Christian Nation. And for the word on Shariphobia, check out Marc D. Stern’s examination of what…

I suspect it’s only a matter of time before there are atheist chaplains in the U.S. military, and a good thing too. The justification for chaplains in the first place is that serving in the military restricts your First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. The government therefore has an obligation to make…

So why has Mississipi Governor Haley Barbour, Establishment Republican Supremo, decided to drop out of the GOP presidential sweepstakes? Here’s Dan Baltz’s explanation: His decision not to enter the contest, he said in a statement, grew out of his conclusion that he lacked the necessary fire in the belly. But friends of Barbour, speaking on…

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