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The desire to regain control in the face of terrifying events is so strong we’ll do or say almost anything to put ourselves back in charge.

There’s a scene in Martin Preib’s recent and remarkable collection of essays where he describes pulling over to the side of the road to scribble down a note, deep in conversation about the work of Walt Whitman, about what that work accomplished and how. “My terms are useless:…

Numerous studies showing that decision-making appears to occur well before we believe we’ve made the decision, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to give up on free will just yet.

“Tell me what religion looks like.” “ This is what religion looks like!” So chanted the 75 religious leaders who marched into Wisconsin’s Capitol in Madison on Tuesday, February 22, in support of the state workers who are opposing Governor…

Can Matt Damon’s love trump God’s Will? Does it have to?

The Orthodox Jewish community in the U.S. has treated allegations of sexual abuse with the same secrecy and refusal to include secular authorities as the Catholic Church. Now, however, more Orthodox abuse victims are coming forward than ever before.

Conservative US Christians rally ‘round Putin; African Anglicans defend anti-gay laws.

The Tea Party-inspired constitutional recitation of January 6 immediately ran into the problems any fundamentalism has with sacred scripture: what do you do with the parts that speak to the original intent of an entirely different era—stoning adulterers, casting down fire on one’s enemies, selling all one’s possessions and giving to the poor, requiring the return of runaway slaves, and counting slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation?

This week’s global LGBT recap

The top films for 2010—especially those up for this Sunday’s awards—leave most of the species-specific questions behind. Instead this year’s crop reflects anxieties (as well as promises) about who we are and who we might be becoming in and as humans, in our own skins—never mind the “prawns” or “Na’vi.” Questions provoked by this year’s films include those concerning the nature of our selves in connection and collision with our families, our larger social institutional entanglements, and our own bodies. The other key theme, effecting each of the others, had to do with the ways new media technology is inserting itself into our intimate lives, and changing our identities, both public and private.