Palin And Twilight: American Pilgrimages

Stuart Whatley, 11.26.2009

We're in hard times, it's reasonable to expect that people will look for saviors and fantastical escapes -- be they in the form of vegetarian vampires or meat eating pseudo-author/pseudo-politicians.

Obama's Declining Popularity

Rabbi Michael Lerner, 12.11.2009

Editor of Tikkun and National Chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives

How could a man who aroused so much hope be losing support so dramatically? And what lessons can be learned for politicians all around the world?

Grateful For America

Grant Cardone, 11.25.2009

Author of Sell to Survive and International Sales and Business Expert

While the world spends so much time complaining about what is wrong I am reminded at this time to focus on what I have to be grateful for: All those ...

This Thanksgiving Remember the Immigrant, Pilgrim

Jim Wallis, 11.25.2009

Founder of Sojourners; speaker, author, activist

The broken nature of America's immigration system is deeply felt during the holidays by millions in the United States who long to be reunited with their loved ones.

A New Thanksgiving Prayer

Alexis C. Jolly, 11.25.2009

Scholar. Gentleman.

I decided to prepare a prayer this year for my family -- one that eschewed dogmatic, patriarchal language. Please modify it to fit your own religious, spiritual, skeptical, or atheistic beliefs.

Christian Leaders Scapegoat Gays on Marriage

Nathaniel Frank, 11.25.2009

Author, "Unfriendly Fire" and Senior Research Fellow, Palm Center

In the new, anti-gay "Manhattan Declaration" scores of Christian signatories reveal the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of their obsessive persecution of gay people.

The Rom Houben Tragedy And The Case For Active Euthanasia

Jacob M. Appel, 11.25.2009

Bioethicist and medical historian

If one believes that the prevention of suffering may sometimes justify the withdrawal or withholding of care, then the very fact that Houben was conscious for twenty-three years might call more convincingly for such action.

An American Arab Thanksgiving

Ray Hanania, 11.25.2009

Chicagoland political columnist, consultant, author, standup comedian and radio talkshow host

Food has a special place in our hearts as Arabs, so Thanksgiving was the American holiday we most loved. Food symbolizes the essence of freedom, the ability to feed your family without fear.

A Jane Goodall Thanksgiving

Michael Winship, 11.24.2009

Senior writer at Bill Moyers Journal on PBS

My Thanksgiving list this year includes Jane Goodall, who was interviewed by my colleague Bill Moyers for this week's edition of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.

Don't Let 'Allahu Akbar' Become A Pejorative

Jordan Sekulow, 11.24.2009

Democracy's 'War on Islam' is exactly the war Islamic terrorists have been hoping to ignite, and we must not let them succeed. It is time for peaceful, ordinary Muslim Americans to put their collective foot down.

Hijab Case: Why Bigoted Battery Makes For A Hate Crime

Ahmed Rehab, 11.24.2009

www.ahmedrehab.com

Amal Abusumayah, a 28-year-old American mother of four young girls, was going about her usual shopping when she was randomly treated to a dose of derogatory comments about her faith.

What The Buddha Would Say To Sarah Palin

Ed and Deb Shapiro, 11.24.2009

Authors of "Be the Change - How Meditation Can Transform You and the World." EdandDebShapiro.com

At the moment, Palin is touring the country to promote her book, which has a very large number of words in it, but not all of them are necessarily either true or kind.

You Say You Believe In God: What Are You Willing To Do About It?

Lorraine Roe, 11.23.2009

Author, creator of www.psychichousewives.com, former award-winning reporter

Ask God to show him or herself by allowing the divine to perform acts of random kindness in your own life. Don't take someone else's word for it. Get proof.

What Spirituality Has To Do With The Health Care Debate

Paul DeBell, 11.23.2009

Psychiatrist; Author, Decoding the Spiritual Messages of Everyday Life

Spirituality should be approached rationally, not solely through inspiration, emotion and blind faith. It's time to bring it into the 21st Century, and for irrationality that seeps into other crucial debates to be stymied.

Have We Forgotten God?

John W. Whitehead, 12.03.2009

Attorney and author who has written, debated and practiced widely

Here again we witness the single outcome of a worldwide process, with East and West yielding the same results, and once again for the same reason: Men have forgotten God.

The Religion of Thinness

Aimee Liu, 11.27.2009

Author

While writing my book Gaining several years ago, I kept tripping across evidence of a curiously cozy relationship between religion and eating disorde...

A Thanksgiving Prayer to End Poverty in Our Time

Marian Wright Edelman, 11.23.2009

President, Children's Defense Fund

What kind of nation, blessed to be the wealthiest in the world, lets one in five children be poor? I offer a Thanksgiving prayer for us to commit to end poverty in our time -- beginning with children.

The Wages of Fear: Alibis and Lies

Joan Z. Shore, 11.24.2009

Co-founder, Women Overseas for Equality (Belgium), columnist and author.

Had it been a Christian or a Jew who slaughtered thirteen people in one mad frenzy, I doubt there would have been much psycho-analysis of the murderer and his motives. It was a ghastly criminal act, period.

Book Review: Sarah Palin's Going Rogue

Catie Lazarus, 11.22.2009

www.doctorlazarus.com

In deference to reading about Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue on The Daily Kos and watching clips from her appearance on Oprah, I wrote a rev...

Irrational Exuberance in Anti-Obama Hatred

Aaron Keyak, 11.20.2009

Communications Director, National Jewish Democratic Council

The use of swastikas, photos of dead Holocaust victims, and anti-Semitic epithets should have no place in any event or venue sponsored or promoted on either side of the partisan divide.

New Study: U.S. Hate Crimes Fall Slightly In '08; But Data Is Limited

Brian Levin, J.D., 11.20.2009

Director, Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University

A new study finds that hate crimes actually declined slightly in 2008, despite an economic recession, increasing demographic diversification, and an apparent rise in the number of active hate groups.