Ok, so GOP Rep. Todd Akin is a demagogue. He knew he was exaggerating when he said that "the heart of liberalism really is a hatred of God." Plenty of liberals are theists and many who are not are perfectly respectful of God (though there is a strain...

John Yoo, author of the infamous torture memo that manipulated legal materials to justify the use of torture for interrogation during the Bush Administration, has been crowing all over the media that the death of Osama bin Laden shows that torture works. I'm glad that Yoo is able to make...

Don't be fooled by all the talk about Congress' Commerce Power in the recent District Court decision holding the Obamacare health care mandate unconstitutional. Although couched in terms of commerce, the ruling actually involves a different area of constitutional law: fundamental rights. To see this, ask yourself whether the opponents...

Yesterday, in an Op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Victor Bernard, who is affiliated with the Center for Inquiry, wrote a thoughtful and impassioned challenge to the recent Ninth Circuit decision upholding the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Bernard was particularly critical of the court for...

Last week, at the Netroots Nation Convention in Pittsburgh, a panel debated a proposal concerning the future of the separation of church and state in America. The proposal was entitled, A New Progressive Vision for Church and State: How I Learned to Accept "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance...

I was listening to Jim Roddey, Republican leader and Chief Executive of Allegheny County from 2000-2004 yesterday, reacting to the news that Arlen Specter was changing party affiliation. It struck me that the one aspect of the story that the national media was ignoring was how Arlen Specter had let...

I love legislatures. When a legislature considers an issue, there is an opportunity to build coalitions. Ordinary people can communicate with their representatives. Compromises are possible. The process is open. Legislatures are where democracy happens.

That is why the action of the Vermont legislature overturning the gubernatorial veto of a...

Less than five years after Christian America's greatest political achievement -- the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004 -- Newsweek magazine announces "The Decline and Fall of Christian America" on its April 13 cover. The issue's lead article is "The End of Christian America" by Jon Meacham.

These stories,...

President Barack Obama has nominated Federal District Judge David F. Hamilton to the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Nomination hearings are expected to begin this week. Hamilton seems assured of confirmation, especially since Indiana's Republican Senator, Richard Lugar, announced that he "enthusiastically" supports the nomination.

Because this is...

The New School For Social Research just concluded a conference on the Religious/Secular Divide in the United States. The Conference was held for two days, 3/5-6, to standing room only crowds at the Tishman Auditorium in New York City. The New School brought in many well known names, including Charles...

Austin Dacey, the well-known atheist thinker, writes in The Secular Conscience that secularism is in danger of losing its soul to relativism. Dacey is part of new secular wave that is exploring topics that used to be thought of as "religious", such as the objectivity of values, the meaning of...

This may seem a strange time to discuss the future of secularism, since we have just concluded a faith-saturated presidential election campaign. From the start, from Barack Obama's 2006 Keynote Address to the Sojourners Call to Renewal Conference to the over-the-top faith confessions by Obama, Clinton, and Edwards, the Democrats...