On Tuesday, the religion, policy, and politics project at Brookings and the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) hosted a forum to release PRRI's fourth American Values Survey (AVS), a large national ...

Here in Ohio we have seen political advertising go "one louder" and receive "that extra push over the cliff." The NOISE is so deafening, I'm convinced the campaigns and super PACs have ...

I will miss George McGovern. The former Senator from South Dakota and Democratic presidential candidate in 1972 died in a hospice on Sunday, at 90, surrounded by family and friends who loved him. Indeed, many ...

For the next 12 days it’s all about the ground game. With most voter registration deadlines passed, the fight against voter suppression has shifted focus from registration drives to calling banks, car-pools, and calls to vote early. Bishop Dwayne Roy ...

It’s no wonder that more and more people of faith are identifying as the “nones”— or none of above the when it comes to religious beliefs. Who wants to be associated with Christianity — Protestant, Evangelical ...

Thanks to Melanne Verveer’s article in Foreign Policy magazine, I’m going to be listening for what the presidential candidates say tonight about women in this foreign policy focused debate. ...

It’s not surprising that a third of my peers say they are religiously unaffiliated. Our religious lives are too complex these days to fit in neat boxes with one-word labels. I may be a “Christian,” but does t ...

This is part three of a three-part series from Dr. Miroslav Volf an a voice instructing us how to involve our values into our present politcal debates. Editor's Note:  ...

While several years pass between presidential elections, we vote for the collective benefit of our global common good on numerous occasions with each passing day. In a few week ...

When the Supreme Court announced recently that one of the cases it would take up in this session was a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the hairs rose on the back of my neck. ...

PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly has launched a new mini-series on the rise of the unaffiliated. Editor's Note: Sojourners has launched this new blog series to hel ...

In this year of presidential elections, I have decided to summarize key values that guide me as I decide for whom to cast my vote. There are three basic elements of choosing a candidate for public office respo ...

Young evangelicals are changing, and so is what it means to be an evangelical, or Christian at all, in our country today. And it is exactly the kind of Christianity that they are living out which might, just m ...

Since there’s sure to be drama this week and next following the debates — and each day leading up to Election Day on Nov. 6, and likely some weeks afterward — I thought I’d share with you my 10 Commandments of ...

What culture war? At a survey release of young evangelicals and proceeding panel discussion, common ground was the pervading theme. What culture war? At a survey release of young ...

I couldn’t resist: I heard that a singer/songwriter in Atlanta was coming out with an album titled, Faith, the Poor, and Politics. Josh Schicker currently serves as Worship Leader in Mission at North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. He ...

In a world that seems completely and irrevocably divorced from the teachings of Christ, where in contemporary society is there a place for the Christian voice? In a world that see ...

Catholicism’s social justice teachings have often been called the church’s “best-kept secret,” and after the Oct. 11 vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan – the first such showdown between t ...

Depending on your perspective, it could be argued that the landscape of presidential candidates either reflects such religious diversity, or that it’s still more of the same old majority rule at play, with a f ...

When we listen to political debates about which public policies will strengthen the economy, it is easy to get lost in a statistical maze. When we listen to political debates abou ...

Tripp Hudgins offers his First Thoughts about the presidential and vice presidential debates. Editor's Note: Theologian extraordinnaire Tripp Hudgins put together ...

Think and pray about whom, you would entrust with the responsibility to lead your community, state, and nation. If you care about having a substantive conversation about is ...

When Joe Biden and Paul Ryan face off in the vice-presidential debate Thursday night, it will mark the first showdown of its kind between the first Catholics ever to oppose each other on the major party ticket ...

“Nones” is a term that includes atheists and agnostics, but also anyone who does not identify with a traditional religious faith. Therein lies my concern. Editor's Note: ...

With 28 days to go until our nation chooses its 45th president, a string of court victories have knocked down Jim-Crow-style barriers to voting that have been erected in states across the nation. But 13 states ...

Despite all the arguing there was much left unsaid by President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney at Wednesday night's debate. Last night millions of Americans watched the fi ...

LOS ANGELES — In a matter of days, some 1,400 American pastors are planning to break the law. And they’re likely to get away with it. As part of “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” on Oct. 7, religious leaders across the ...

Last night I found myself vexed. Frustrated and disappointed at the fearful rhetoric and the bombastic posturing of the first Presidential debate, I went to bed soured by the whole thing. This morning I awoke ...

Marianne Williamson, a bestselling author and convener of the upcoming Sister Giant conference on women and politics, has called on President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney to address “a meaningful arra ...

Jim Wallis The faith agenda in an election year? Start with "the least of these." AS I CAREFULLY wa ...

If the government is designed ultimately for the good of the people, is the political discourse today reflective of that goal? What if I told you that the political discourse in A ...

President Obama rode a tide of optimism into the White House four years ago, only to watch his support erode after the reality didn’t live up to the speeches in many cases. But we wanted to hear it, and it wo ...

Yet, as Gregory A. Boyd notes in his important book The Myth of a Christian Nation, taking America BACK for God assumes we were at one really belonged to God, followed God, listened to God. Boyd goes on to ask ...

The Circle of Protection, comprised of Christian leaders from across the religious spectrum, today released President Barack Obama's and GOP nominee Mitt Romney's video responses to the call to addre ...

It’s time to STOP using faith, Jesus, and the Bible as a political platform. Gotta say I’m a big fan of this church sign at my father-in-law’s church. It’s time to STOP: ...

Every four years, posts about politics pop up with increasing frequency on social media, eliciting often-furious back-and-forths that usually end up doing nothing more than reminding each side how right they a ...

Instead of trying to fight fire with more fire, the time has come to practice civility among ourselves as we engage in public life, and as we do so, learn to demand respectfulness from our elected officials, b ...

In times like these, when politicians are sweating to sway voters to their side, or frame their opponents as the polar opposite—the enemy—it is tempting to begin to define ourselves and each other through the ...

Jim Wallis No, that isn’t a typo. Sojourners stood side by side with Focus on the Family to draw attention to the plight of millions who ...

In my mind, the poor are the ones being hijacked in all of this. Wealthy politicians from both major parties certainly are not arguing or creating policy from the viewpoint of Jesus. In fact, thinly veiled rel ...

I want to suggest that what size the government should be is the wrong question. A more useful discussion would be about the purposes of government and whether ours is fulfilling them. So let's look at wh ...

In a move that could recast the reigning political narrative about the Catholic bishops, Cardinal Timothy Dolan has accepted an invitation to deliver the closing benediction at the Democratic National Conventi ...

When the temptation to think kids like James just can't learn tears us down, I'm going to tell the story about the time he jumped up with a raised fist and shouted, "I did it!" when he read ...

To judge by the shrill echoes of shrill voices, the right wing is arming for battle, with God on their side, the flag as their shield, and the future of a white Christian nation at stake. Foolhardy politicians ...

While dehumanization is seen throughout our history books, it is not merely an epidemic of the past, for it takes place each day, here in the present, sometimes profound, and oftentimes quite subtle. ...

The nonpartisan charity dinner is a time for civility, engagement, and dialogue, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan defended his invitation of ...

How do we debate important issues when we don't share a common foundation of facts? NEW YORK — The view out my eighth-story apartment window rarely changes. Lights go off ...

By tradition, the storied Al Smith Dinner has provided a few hours of comic relief from the angry volleys of the campaign trail. But this year's event is drawing criticism. N ...

One wonders if we have received a rare gift of unaltered reality in this period of deepening crisis in the Holy Land and overheated atmosphere in the American presidential campaign. ...

Nick Penniman With political integrity drowning in big money, it's too late for small tweaks. The whole system needs a reboot. ...