War is a logical consequence of religion. Since religion is based, by definition, on faith rather than facts, no mechanism exists to arbitrate between competing ideas. As soon as logic is removed from the debate, competing positions cannot be evaluated based on relative merit, but are supported as inherently right, immune to any...
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This week the Republicans have finalized their descent to irrelevance. Two prominent spokesmen for the right have diminished the national debate, and themselves, with irresponsible statements meant to rewrite history. George Will opining in Newsweek and Dick Cheney speaking at the American Enterprise Institute together provide...
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A few days ago, Seattle Times headlined an article by Electra Draper entitled, “Dogs Have Souls, but You Already Knew That.” Much of the piece is devoted to University of Colorado Professor Marc Bekoff, who has concluded that humans are not alone in having a nuanced moral system.

I strongly suspect...
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Democratic leaders are initiating a media campaign targeting Christian radio stations to create support among Evangelicals for upcoming climate change legislation. While outreach is usually admirable, Democrats are barking up the wrong apple tree in this particular case.

We will not effectively address the issue of global...
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In a country founded on the principles of separating church and state, a national day of prayer raises certain obvious questions. But instead of focusing on that issue on this dubious day of celebration, let’s go deeper and examine prayer itself as our special way of celebrating.

Here is the central dilemma for anybody...
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With apologies to the Bard, I question his premise that nothing is changed by a name. A rose might smell as sweet regardless, but a liberal flower has a different aroma than one unlabelled.

Pigeonholing someone into a simple category creates a comfortable means of evaluating, and dismissing, the merits of an argument without...
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