The first decade of the new millennium was marked by rapid economic and technological globalization. As the original superpower, religion reasserted its perennial influence in both national and international affairs. The following 10 stories show the breadth of religious actors and events and how deeply they affected the last 10...

"World leaders are listening to us and waiting to see what we have to say." Such was the rallying cry of Dr. William Lesher, Chair of the Parliament of the World's Religions, as he welcomed thousands of religious people from around the world to the opening plenary of the Council's...

Obama's Council on Faith Based Partnerships has fallen off the map - and we need them back. Nothing exemplifies the sad lack of contribution of this much hailed diverse group of religious leaders than the current impasse...

Immediately after it became known that the shooter at Fort Hood was South Asian and had a Muslim sounding name the condemnations came in from every major Islamic organization in America. In my inbox I got emails from Daisy Khan and Feisal Rauf, Eboo Patel, Shahed Amanullah and others expressing,...

Roman Catholic Priests are the surprising voices of clarity and conviction in Michael Moore's new film Capitalism: A Love Story. The Priests in this documentary, one of whom married Mr. Moore and his wife, aren't ambivalent -- they characterize...

It's been 20 years since the Berlin wall fell and the Soviet Union officially collapsed. And it has been about that amount of time since socialism served as a buzz word in American political life. Now, thanks...

You are off to college! As you pack your coolest clothes, decide on posters for your wall, and assemble your electronics -- I hope you can find room for a piece of timeless advice (some even call it a commandment) from the Princeton Chapel -- Love your neighbor as yourself....

The last and only public policy debate we had about health care and end of life issues was the Terri Schiavo case. No wonder the conversation has turned hysterical. End of life medical ethics are not abstract. All of us will have to answer the question of how far we...

Gay people and their allies should take the occasion of the NAACP's centennial to celebrate the NAACP's century of accomplishments and recommit to supporting the organization and its objectives of ending racism in America.

It is time to Christianize the health care debate. Ok, before the radical atheists come at me with their blazing keyboards let me explain the reference. A hundred years ago my great grandfather Walter Rauschenbusch wrote a book called Christianizing the Social Order which called for the reorganization of...

As the Vienna Philharmonic finished its annual outdoor program at the Schonbrunn Castle, the guest conductor Daniel Barenboim exclaimed to the 50,000 gathered that he had a new hope because of the speech by the American President Obama on...

John Glenn Gooch's military stone had only recently been placed in the cemetery, when we arrived to plant flowers to honor him this Memorial Day weekend. Glenn died this winter and is now buried near the town...

Barack Obama's graduation address at Notre Dame was a victory for the President and for the United States. From the moment he walked onto the platform, to when he was conferred the honorary doctorate, to during...

When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people...

The Iowa Supreme Court did the just thing last week when it found laws prohibiting marriage between people of the same gender unconstitutional. The court gave a UNANIMOUS opinion displaying a moral clarity on the subject which other states...

There is a church in Indiana which requires people taking advantage of the food kitchen and homeless shelter to also participate in the life of the church. In short hand - no religion, no food. Just to be clear,...

President Obama got his stimulus package passed, Now the real work begins. The next months and years will be a new opportunity to prove the effectiveness of government to create jobs, keep people in their homes and...

God Damn Wall Street!

Ok, I had to get a little Jeremiah Wright off my chest because the disgusting behavior of Wall Street while our economy crumbles has made it tough to maintain equanimity.

The rip...

There have been many, (many!) Barack Obama t-shirts that appeared over the long months of the presidential election, but my favorite was the multi-colored portrait of the candidate boldly underlined with the word "Progress." Progress was promised in the...