Read a Nov. 20, 2012, Religion News Service analysis about how the movie Lincoln has revived questions about that president’s faith. Via the Washington Post.

Read a Jan. 29, 2013, Huffington Post essay, “So We Are a Christian Nation?” in which the author explores the different Christian traditions present in American politics.

Read a Feb. 1, 2013, column at the Patheos website about the tension between Christian dominance and religious freedom in America.

Read a Feb. 7, 2013, CNN story, “Religion, readability and the presidency: a historic combination,” on the presidential tradition, from Washington to Obama, of invoking faith and the national purpose.

Read a Feb. 7, 2013, column from the journal Sightings on presidents’ use of religious references in their inaugural addresses.

President Obama delivered an address at the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 7, 2013. Read his full statement here.

This story, published on May 14, 2013, in the New York Times, explains how Vermont became the first state to pass a legislative measure allowing physicians to administer lethal drugs to terminally ill patients in May 2013.

Robert W. Hefner is an anthropology professor and director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University. Since 1991 he has also directed the institute’s program on Islam and society. His many books include (as editor) Shari’a Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World and (as co-editor) Schooling Islam: The […]

One challenge in writing about the Eastern Orthodox is the debate over numbers. A figure often cited is 3 million adherents in the U.S., with about 2 million in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1 million in the Orthodox Church in America, and some tens of thousands in the other 20 major Eastern Orthodox churches. In a […]