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Maybe it’s too much to compare Bernie Madoff to Hitler—but there are some peculiar parallels.

When Daniel Hauser and his mother, members of new Native American religion the Nemenhah Band, opted out of chemotherapy and fled to Mexico, the media were ready with a religion vs. medicine narrative.

Although Rick Warren’s Saddleback church teaches women that physical abuse is not grounds for divorce, there is a growing literature for evangelical women—by their peers—that shows women how to get out of an abusive marriage, while remaining in the church.

In the same way that actual radicals were chic among left-leaning socialites in the late seventies, NASCAR and pork rinds were a mark of authenticity for conservatives throughout the Bush years. But now some Republicans are rethinking their down-market identities.

Buying locally reminds us that purchasing is a mythical act that cements us to community in some magical way. But what if the very morality of a “local” act is being marketed in its own right? Is it just as moral to help a Palestinian cultural center build community as it is to buy Cisco products whose ads promise the same?

Two examples of transposition from one culture or location to another, and both work surprisingly well.

There is nothing to be gained by presenting the issue of abortion as an argument in which each side has equal weight. They don’t—even if one side is shouting louder and making threats.

People were glued to their Twitter feeds this week, as Iranians microblogged their updates of the civil unrest following the election. But is it possible that we’re not able to see the forest for the twee…ts?

After months of silence, the US State Department finally condemns the murders of 24 young men who were gay, or perceived to be gay.

A friend once asked Diana Butler Bass why she was still a Christian. The answer lies in the question of spiritual memory, and of a community that exists through time.