Squish Like Grape

Last Friday's Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage across the United States has produced a lot of outrage from religious conservatives claiming the court has overstepped its boundaries. The decision is a central assault upon marriage, says Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Among the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson is a short story titled "The Bottle Imp," the tale of a cursed bottle that brings its owner short-term gain but carries a severe long-term danger.

How people convince themselves that the Confederate flag represents freedom, not slavery

This “Confederately correct” orthodoxy that the South fought for independence, not slavery, rankled a few southern realists, including the editors of the Richmond-based Southern Punch in 1864:

A prayer in a sanctuary

We will be told, in the aftermath of this act of terrorism, that it was the work of a lone individual — an aberration resulting from the aberrant behavior of a single disturbed man. But that claim is not credible. It requires us to ignore what we have seen and known for generations.

According to some evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, the inerrancy of the Bible is an essential doctrine.

Are all atheists simply angry, or just the ones to whom you're listening?

The idea of the angry atheist is a myth.

I'm a liberal professor, and my liberal students terrify me

Sam Brownback's education cuts have become fodder for Doonesbury. I can't tell you right now how proud I am to call Kansas home.

NASA and Verizon plan to monitor US drone network from phone towers

That $500,000 project is now underway at Nasa’s Ames Research Center in the heart of Silicon Valley. Nasa is planning the first tests of an air traffic control system for drones there this summer, with Verizon scheduled to introduce a concept for using cell coverage for data, navigation, surveillance and tracking of drones by 2017.

You've probably seen or heard about the Pew Research Center's recent survey revealing a sharp decline in Christian affiliation among Americans in recent years. Several observers have suggested this is a result of nominal Christians being more honest about their lack of commitment.

How Comedians Became Public Intellectuals