USA TODAY - When Religion Loses its Credibility

Galileo was persecuted for revealing what we now know to be the truth regarding Earth’s place in our solar system. Today, the issue is homosexuality, and the persecution is not of one man but of millions. Will Christian leaders once again be on the wrong side of history?

By Oliver "Buzz" Thomas
What if Christian leaders are wrong about homosexuality? I suppose, much as a newspaper maintains its credibility by setting the record straight, church leaders would need to do the same:

Correction: Despite what you might have read, heard or been taught throughout your churchgoing life, homosexuality is, in fact, determined at birth and is not to be condemned by God's followers.

Based on a few recent headlines, we won't be seeing that admission anytime soon.

(Illustration by Adrienne Lewis, USA TODAY)
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USA TODAY - Confessions of a Values Voter

By Tom Krattenmaker

I am a values voter.

Given my progressive political and religious beliefs, some might find this a dubious claim — especially members of the Christian right, who with their rhetoric about "values voters" suggest that only those who share their positions on abortion and same-sex couples possess something deserving of the term "values."

Read the entire article at: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/11/post_34.html#more

Sen. John Danforth on Conservative Politics and Moderate Religion

John Danforth is an Episcopal priest and a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. He served for 18 years as a Republican Senator from Missouri and a special envoy to Sudan for President Bush.

Politics driven by a religious agenda, Danforth says, is true neither to his understanding of Christian faith nor to the traditional values of the Republican party. This veteran politician speaks about the values that have helped him navigate the line between private faith and public life and his current concerns about religion in his own party and in the world.

Listen to an interview Sen Danforth gave to the Public Radio program "Speaking Of Faith" released Sept. 8, 2005.

USA Today - Focus on Faith

That is the title of a series of opinions published weekely in USA Today.

"Faith. Religion. Spirituality. Increasingly those words are part of public life - a controversial part. Every Monday, writers of varying perspectives seek to illuminate the issues."

You find entires from liberal to conservative. They are very eye opening.

Take a look at "A moral battleground, a civil discourse" by Charles C. Haynes, the co-author of Finding Common Ground: A Guide to Religious Liberty in Public Schools