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Americans are the inheritors of a religious tradition that holds that inner goodness is reflected in outer beauty—but the pursuit of bodily perfection is an endeavor, both personal and commercial, that has global reach. Whether someone is looking for a better nose, or for immortality, the quest has everything to do with religion.

He threatens criminals and undocumented immigrants with impalement but he has ‘Republican values.’ Jonathon ‘The Impaler’ Sharkey’s declaration that he will seek the Republican nomination for president is just another human interest story for the media. But what does it say that his rhetoric and positions don’t deviate appreciably from the current level of discourse?

We’ve always had unscrupulous tycoons, market manipulators and connivers, but we’ve never had as obnoxious a bunch of weasels on Wall Street. These morally deformed punks claim the right to undermine perfectly sensible (and sorely needed) regulation because we haven’t learned to make dishonest gain for ourselves in the ways they have become almost kabbalistically schooled in doing.

The Christian Legal Society has sued Hastings College of Law for its refusal to recognize their group as an official campus club, claiming their freedom to practice their faith is being challenged. An expert on church-state separation law says the case is more about the religious right’s “political moxie” to claim religious persecution than about religious liberty.

Before his death, renowned atheist philosopher and co-author of There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, Antony Flew did change his views on theism somewhat; though evidence suggests that it bears little resemblance to the pronouncements of those who sought to advance a well-worn, if seldom true, narrative of the deathbed convert.

UCC minister Chuck Currie is campaigning for a seat on a $1 billion legislative body in Portland, Oregon. In this interview with the man whose candidacy may inform our thinking about the role of religious progressives for years to come, the pioneering blogger takes on church/state issues point blank.

If the traditional practice of prayer in the context of traditional institutional religions is increasingly meaningless for a significant and growing proportion of American believers and seekers, one wonders what the spiritual or civic value is of attempting to encourage the practice through governmental fiat.

The disastrous oil spill should come as no surprise, since no amount of human sacrifice is unacceptable or unimaginable where the relentless pursuit of glittering riches is concerned. “Blood Diamonds” is actually an appropriate tag for all forms of mineral wealth; all of it is won and held at the price of rivers of blood and suffering.

Reminding us that there is ample biblical backing for a compassionate posture on immigration the author vividly recounts a personal brush with racial profiling.