Both an influential scholar and a public intellectual, Robert Bellah is one of the foremost sociologists of his generation. His…
science
War on drugs may be interfering with Americans’ spiritual awakening
Kevin Drum, of Mother Jones, reports on a study conducted by the esteemed researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of…
Continuing controversy over Louisiana’s public school curriculum
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that efforts to repeal the 2008 Science Education Act have failed despite efforts by Louisiana…
Reading the paranormal writing us: An interview with Jeffrey Kripal
Jeffrey Kripal, who chairs the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University, is an authority on the mysterious. His books…
Figuring American Spirituality
After attending a February 10th discussion with multimedia artist Laurie Anderson at Columbia University, Columbia Religion Professor Courtney Bender wrote…
Still in the province of philosophy
Alva Noë criticizes The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow.
Buddhism and science
At 13.7: Cosmos and Culture, a blog sponsored by NPR, astrophysicist Adam Frank takes on the changing relationship between Buddhism and science.…
Is there a secular body?
Is there a secular body? Or, in somewhat different terms, is there a particular configuration of the human sensorium—of sensibilities,…
Did wind part the Red Sea?
A software engineer with the National Center for Atmospheric Research believes that the parting of the Red Sea recorded in…
Understanding disenchantment
Jane Bennett’s sympathetic yet critical commentary on my essay "What is Enchantment?" (published in the volume Varieties of Secularism in…