A passion for moderation

The polar ends of the religious spectrum — atheists on one hand, fundamentalists on the other — often eclipse the believers in the middle. Yet the faithful middle provides a compassionate and constructive form of faith that has much to offer our fractured world.

By Tom Krattenmaker

These are not the brightest times for religious moderates. Mainstream Episcopalians, Methodists, Catholics and the like, they're being upstaged by the more aggressive actors at the polar ends of the spectrum. From Christian conservatives flies rhetoric that pays little heed to the inclusiveness, reasonable tones and subtlety of the ecumenical middle. And from anti-religion author Sam Harris and like-minded atheists comes the damning suggestion that moderates enable violent fundamentalism and that moderation, as Harris puts it, "is the result of not taking Scripture all that seriously."

(Illustration by Adrienne Lewis, USA TODAY)
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Tutu Equates Homophobia With Apartheid

"To penalize someone because of their sexual orientation is like what used to happen to us; to be penalized for something which we could do nothing (about) -- our ethnicity, our race," said Tutu. "I would find it quite unacceptable to condemn, persecute a minority that has already been persecuted."

—Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace laureate and former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, to journalists in Nairobi for the World Social Forum (Gay.com/U.K.)

Read the entire story at gay.com

USA TODAY - A Challenge for the Ages

A challenge for the ages: One country, many faiths

Extremists — religious or not — speak the loudest, but they don’t speak for all Americans. That much is clear. What’s not clear: How will this religiously diverse nation move forward into the new year? The founding documents are a good place to start.
By Oliver "Buzz" Thomas

"One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

I was sitting in an auditorium in Greeneville, Tenn., listening to two Sudanese boys, whom my wife and I had helped through college, recite the Pledge of Allegiance and take the oath of citizenship. Our Sudanese friends were Christian, but standing alongside them were Jews, Muslims, Hindus and who knows who else. All different. All about to become American citizens.

(Illustration by Sam Ward, USA TODAY)

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