Demographers are already salivating ahead of the upcoming U.S. Census, which will no doubt show just how different 2010 America is from 2000 America. When it comes to the religious breakdown of the country, though, the waiting game is over. Try this pop quiz:

What is the fastest-growing religious group...

President Obama acknowledged me in his first speech as president. He looked up from the podium on the steps of the capitol of this country and he seemed to look right at me, in my living room hundreds of miles and thousands of feet of television cable away. In one...

My favorite line from John McCain's long and mostly uninspired speech at the Republican National Convention was buried in the part where he was trying to define what Republicans believe. He proclaimed that: "We believe in a government that unleashes the creativity and initiative of Americans. Government that doesn't make...

I am an atheist. I have never joined, or been part of, any religious group or organization. I was raised without religion, and without much understanding of what religion is. I have never had much of an identity religiously, and I stayed away from much thought or discussion on the...

Ah! That time of year is here again. The winter holidays are upon us and so it's time to debate what to call this busy time of celebration. The last few years have seen some controversy about how Christmas is the major American holiday and how it is wrong, and...

I declare a War on the War on Christmas. And since the barrage of the holiday season has begun, I thought I should launch a preemptive strike.

Every year the religious right and the conservative news pundits claim that there is a plan to attack Christmas in America. I am...

Apparently, word is out in many Christian communities that the new movie, The Golden Compass, is anti-Christian. Well, the advertisements I have seen for the new movie show arctic adventure, talking bears, witches and battles. That does not seem very different from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which...

I have a question for the Christians out there: If you could pick one living person to be the face of the entire Christian faith, who would that person be? Even if you could pick three, or even five people, it would still be a challenge. I imagine it would...

Mother Teresa had doubts. She, like so many people, had serious misgivings about the certainty of the existence of god. She felt lonely and sad because she could not feel his presence. Yet she carried on in her work and continued to hope that some day she would deeply feel...

I went to the movies this month. For most people that is no big deal, but I don't see that many movies.

I do see all the Ocean's movies, and so I had to catch the latest caper and I had to see it in the theater. So off...

I am standing at the edge of a cliff, darkness surrounds me and the wind is blowing in every direction. I am terrified, panicked, panting as I strive to keep my balance. But it is too late, the edge slips out from under my feet and I fall into the...