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Steven Waldman

Amy, Gordon and I took a boat trip into New York Harbor to watch the fireworks. The Statue of Liberty at sunset was extraordinary.

If Sarah Palin’s sudden resignation reflected a decision to run for the Presidency — and not some new scandal about to erupt — it means the critical figure in the Republican party now is Mike Huckabee. Palin is armored in Christian teflon. Many of her supporters view her not just a victim of persecution for…

John Adams wrote to Abigail on July 3, 1776 that July 2 ought to be celebrated not only with “bells, bonfires and illuminations” but “as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” It makes sense since many Americans at the time viewed it as a Holy War. Some believed that…

I’m often asked by pro-choice friends why pro-lifers oppose sex education, family planning, and contraception. Don’t those approaches reduce unintended pregnancy and therefore the numbers of abortions? It’s a question at the heart of efforts to achieve “common ground” on abortion. I know pro-life activists hate that some money goes to Planned Parenthood, which also…

Most religious conservative politicians who get caught in a sex scandal make Adam their friend. Because he took the bite of that apple, long before there were hookers or F.B.I. stings, he insured that we were “all sinners.” Christ came along later to absolve us of our sins but didn’t change the basic human nature.…

“This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story. A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.” –Mark Sanford Several women friends have told me that they had more sympathy with South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford than other philandering politicians because…

I recently threw out a half-baked idea of paying pregnant mothers to give up babies for adoption instead of having an abortion. I admit there’s something creepy about the idea (which has been mocked here, here, here, here, and here, for starters) but I wanted explain what I’m trying to get at — in the…

In 1993, religious groups were an insignificant part of the health care reform debate. This time groups like the Family Research Council are weighing in hard against, while progressive religious folks are working hard to generate grassroots support for health care reform. Listen to these striking ads — highly religious, pro-health care reform ads running…

In 2000, some Beliefnet folks were invited to a small meeting with Michael Jackson, who was trying to raise money for a Peter Pan theme park. Bob Nylen, Beliefnet’s co-founder, wrote about the scene in his new book, Guts: Best Dot-Com Meeting Ever In 2000, a megacelebrity asked his counselor — our contributor Rabbi Shmuley…

The first two pop songs I remember ever being conscious of were “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce and “Rockin’ Robin” by the Jackson Five. I remember sitting in the back of a yellow school bus heading to Sands Point summer day camp when I heard Rockin’ Robin. It was thrilling. I bought the…
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