by Chris Stedman

from the Washington Post

Is the Internet destroying our morals?

Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI issued a warning…

This article was originally published on the Common Ground News Service in five languages.

Seminaries, higher education institutions where professors of religion and religious leaders train students to become clergy, have been present in the United States for centuries. Because seminary students are generally being trained as religious leaders who will oversee…

Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, and featured presenter at the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions

by Katherine Marshall

from the Huffington Post

The following interview is part of a…

Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, and featured presenter at the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions

by Katherine Marshall

from the Huffington Post

The following interview is part of a…

Thursday, November 25th, was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999, this day marks the beginning of sixteen days of activism against gender violence across the globe. It will culminate in the observance of Human Rights Day on December 10, 2010.

As a U.S. born Christian religious leader, the proximity of this day…

I was recently struck by the realization that a particular chapter in the Book of Mormon seems to demand of its readers an openness to something like inter-religious dialogue. This was an interesting and mildly ironic realization to have, because my fellow missionaries and I in Denmark a little over ten years ago basically agreed that sharing this chapter with people “outside the church” was…

Time-sensitive commitments precluded me from submitting a timely post about Thanksgiving. Even after receiving the Wednesday night SMS blast to "not be like them, but to fast instead," I was determined to perform my assigned tasks - on a full stomach - preparing for the first Thanksgiving meal hosted by my wife and I. More about that later. After reading James Croft's Thanksgiving for…

There is an interesting debate brewing over yoga. The Hindu American Foundation posted an article entitled “Yoga Beyond Asana: Hindu Thought in Practice” on its website. The article seems primarily educational. It simply explains that there is more to yoga than āsana (posture) and prāṇāyāma (controlled breathing). These are but aspects of a robust philosophical, theological, and moral tradition. It does not…

Until last year, I’d probably cracked open a Bible five or six times in my entire life. In my family, we only went to church every third Christmas and Easter or so, and when we did, we went to the Main Line Unitarian Universalist Church in Devon, PA. If you know much about contemporary expressions of Unitarian Universalism, it will not surprise you that these occasional visits did not lead me to many encounters with the book of…

My last post, "Valid Sources of Knowledge," to my surprise, generated some very good discussions. Fellow SoF contributer James Croft has offered some well-reasoned and thought-provoking retorts to my positions. It seems to me that the discussion is bearing the fruits of this shared endeavor - we are not only describing our various states of…

Marc Sapir, renowned artist and publisher, met with the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue for an interview…

I know how to celebrate Christmas. The tree, the carols, the mulled wine, the mistletoe: all this makes sense to me. Although I am not a Christian, I know the Christmas story and its significance in the arc of the religion's narrative. I have sung in countless Christmas services and carol concerts, performed in nativity plays, and even attended midnight mass. My family has a wealth of Christmas traditions. Watching The Muppet Christmas Carol each year on Christmas Day is one favourite, and…

For decades it has been a common sight at sporting events, rallies, concerts – everywhere that television cameras capture public spectators.  Somewhere in the crowd someone holds up a large sign bearing a word and two numbers: “John 3:16.”  An evangelistic tool, a simplified one-sentence summary of the Gospel, an encapsulation of the heart of the individualized and other-worldly dimensions of the Christian message.  The old King James Version renders it: “For God so loved the world, that…

Books & Culture: A Christian Review recently extended me the privilege of reviewing replies to the New Atheism, including one co-authored by Intelligent Design guru, Philip Johnson. Although it inevitably rankles some interlocutors, when I’m asked for my place on the Creationism/Evolution spectrum, I usually punt to the television series “Friends.”

In Season 2, Episode 3, "The One Where Mr.…

I’ve tried to come up with good justifications for writing this post, knowing that more than a few folks will find it boring, lacking the excitement of another commentary on Lady Gaga, the familiarity of a personal anecdote, or the sensationalism of blogging on Michael Vick as a role model. The thing that I suppose I keep coming back to in my mind is that while I respect and appreciate most…

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