I turned on CNN just before leaving for work in Toronto early Tuesday morning.  Cameras showed a sea of people making their way onto the National Mall, hurrying in order to wait for five hours, happily enduring 20-degree temperatures. A … More →

January 21, 2009

We didn’t quite dare to say it out loud before, but today we repeated it to ourselves over and over: We have our first African-American president. Barack Obama never asked us to vote for him because of his race, and … More →

January 21, 2009

Connections between Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. are inevitable. Some see the presidential inauguration as a testament to the sacrifice of Reverend King and a as powerful expression of hope. More →

January 16, 2009

Read more of Kim Lawton’s January 10, 2009 interview in Philadelphia with the Rev. Donna Jones, senior pastor at Cookman United Methodist Church: Q: Tell me a little bit about the ministries you have here, especially aimed at kids. A: … More →

January 16, 2009

Read more of Kim Lawton’s January 10, 2009 interview with Harold Dean Trulear, associate professor of applied theology at Howard University in Washington, DC and president of GLOBE Community Ministries  in Philadelphia: Q: Give us a very brief description of … More →

January 16, 2009

[MYPLAYLIST=4] BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Now, a conversation about the spirit of the country on the eve of the Obama inauguration. Alice McDermott is a writer, a National Book Award winner, whose latest novel is “After This.” Rabbi Marc Gopin is … More →

January 16, 2009

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: The violence in Gaza may question whether people of different religions can ever learn to live together in peace. But especially since 9/11, many religious leaders and scholars have been trying to identify their differences and work … More →

January 16, 2009

Book Excerpt by Gustav Niebuhr Gandhi is the gold standard when it comes to talking about interreligious respect. On the night that India became independent from Britain, the goal for which he had worked so hard, Gandhi avoided the ceremonies … More →

January 16, 2009

The Rev. Sharon Watkins, president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), who will preach at the National Prayer Service the day after Barack Obama’s inauguration, talks about the broad themes of her sermon and the significance of being the … More →

January 16, 2009

Evangelical megachurch pastor and bestselling author Rick Warren will deliver the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration. In interviews over the years with RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY managing editor Kim Lawton, he has described the wide-ranging political and moral agenda he … More →

January 15, 2009