But why, first of all, is this subject a significant one? And why does it appear especially pertinent at precisely…
What does spirituality mean in America today?
The politics of spirituality
A critical discussion of recent studies on America’s growing “no religion” population and the manifestations of spirituality and spiritual movements in political life as they take shape around various contemporary issues, including ecology, health and the body, race, and sexuality.
The spiritual politics of healing
Debates regarding health care have struck at the core of social and political imaginaries of what it means for both…
I hope you like circles
Perceptions of the environment, however intensively managed that environment may in fact be, turn into experiences of nature, self, and…
Parodic politics
Perhaps the upswing in religious individualism in this postmodern, postsecular period doesn’t herald the breakdown of community after all—nor does…
Who are the “spiritual but not religious”?
Who are the Americans who identify as “spiritual but not religious”? What unifying characteristics, qualities, and beliefs might they share?…
Religion, spirituality, and the sexual scandal
Religion and the sex scandal are still closely linked, though the targets of public outrage have morphed: it is often…
Civil earth religion versus religious nationalism
My contribution to these discussions seeks to expand the analytical horizon of the foregoing discussion of civil religion both chronologically…
The rise of the seculars
Kosmin and Keysar and others are already analyzing who has given up worship, belief, and other modes of religiosity. I…
Was early America a Christian America?
The furious debate in some quarters over whether America was born a “Christian nation” is ironic. The historical record shows…
Beyond believing but not belonging
Religious identification is on the wane in the United States, as in most other nations in the developed world. Yet,…