Harvard political scientist Harvey Mansfield suggests, in the Weekly Standard, that economics should turn away from false positivism and toward a science of virtue.

Gary Laderman writes at Religion Dispatches about Bono's recent op-ed in the New York Times, a Scottish police force with several Jedi in the ranks, and how these both point to an era in which the sacred does not require a god.

Serge Schmemann reports on the Russian Orthodox Church's search for a post-Soviet identity in National Geographic Magazine.

Hesham Hassaballa writes at AltMuslim about Thom Hartmann's call for a reformation for Islam, similar to that in Judaism and Christianity.

At the Washington Post, Parag Khanna writes about how the term "Muslim world" is misleading, inaccurate, and should no longer be used.

At Articles of Faith, Michael Paulson writes about a video and pamphlet released by Empire State Pride Agenda, a New York based gay rights organization, "featuring a group of liberal Massachusetts clergy arguing that the legalization of same-sex marriage has not led to restrictions on religious freedom."

There's a debate about religion in schools in the German state of Berlin, Madeline Chambers explains at FaithWorld.