2009-11-17T15:53:35Z On Faith is an innovative, provocative conversation on all aspects of religion with best selling author Jon Meacham of Newsweek and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. Keep up-to-date on global religious developments with On Faith. tag:newsweek.washingtonpost.com,2009:/onfaith//264 Copyright (c) 2009, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive 2009-11-17T15:53:35Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-11-17:/onfaith/2009/11/bishops_abortion_and_health-ca.html

U.S. Catholic bishops are defending their direct involvement in congressional deliberations over health-care reform, saying that church leaders have a duty to raise moral concerns on any issue, including abortion rights and health care for the poor. Do you agree? What role should religious leaders have -- or not have -- in government policymaking?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-11-11T15:18:48Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-11-09:/onfaith/2009/11/religion_in_the_military.html

The Fort Hood shootings have raised questions again about how the military should handle the personal religious beliefs of its soldiers, whether they are evangelical Christians, Muslims, Wiccans, and so on. What is the proper role of religion -- and personal religious belief -- in the U.S. armed forces? Should a particular religious affiliation disqualify someone from active military service? How far should the military go to accommodate personal religious beliefs and practices?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-11-09T14:08:29Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-11-06:/onfaith/2009/11/islam_and_the_ft_hood_shooting.html

What effect will the Fort Hood shootings have on the American public's perception of Islam?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-11-03T22:03:38Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-11-03:/onfaith/2009/11/end-of-life_care.html

Proposed health-care reform legislation includes a provision that allows Medicare to pay for "end-of-life" counseling for seniors and their families who request it. The provision -- which Sarah Palin erroneously described as "death panels" for seniors -- nearly derailed President Obama's health-care initiative. Some Republicans still argue that the provision would ration health care for the elderly. Does end-of-life care prolong life or does it prolong suffering? Should it be a part of health-care reform?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-10-28T12:39:52Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-10-28:/onfaith/2009/10/good_without_god.html

Is there good without God? Can people be good without God? How can people be good, in the moral and ethical sense, without being grounded in some sort of belief in a being which is greater than they are? Where do concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, come from if not from religion? From where do you get your sense of good and evil, right and wrong?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

David Waters 2009-10-21T14:19:04Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-10-21:/onfaith/2009/10/catholics_welcoming_anglicans.html

The Vatican is making it easier for Anglicans -- priests, members and parishes -- to convert to Catholicism. Some say this is further recognition of the substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality between the Catholic and Anglican traditions; others see it as poaching that could further divide the Anglican Communion. What do you think?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-10-23T13:58:35Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-10-20:/onfaith/2009/10/hate_crimes_laws_necessary.html

Congress has voted to expand federal hate crimes laws to add "sexual orientation" to a list that already includes "race, color, religion or national origin." Is this necessary? Should there be special laws against crimes motivated by intolerance, bigotry or hatred? Isn't a crime a crime? (Cover photo: Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was killed because he was gay, stands next to a photograph of the fence where he was slain. AP)...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-10-20T18:29:48Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-10-14:/onfaith/2009/10/swine_flu_vaccine.html

Polls show a majority of Americans are concerned about the H1N1 virus (swine flu), but also about the safety and efficacy of the swine flu vaccine. Is it ethical to say no to this or any vaccine? Are there valid religious reasons to accept or decline a vaccine? Will you get a swine flu shot? Will your children?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-10-09T21:15:20Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-10-09:/onfaith/2009/10/the_case_for_god.html

What makes the best 'case for God' to a skeptic or non-believer, an open-minded seeker, and to a person of faith and Why? 1) The message of scripture? 2) The scientific evidence for an Intelligent Designer? 3) The 'words' that God has 'spoken' - Torah, Jesus, the Qur'an? 4) A compassionate lifestyle? 5) Personal, subjective experience? -- Karen Armstrong...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-10-06T12:48:26Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-10-06:/onfaith/2009/10/us_in_afghanistan.html

Eight years after the U.S. attacked Afghanistan, fighting continues. Religious extremists in the Taliban and al-Qaeda retain significant power there. What is our moral responsibility to the people of Afghanistan? If religion is part of the problem there, how can it be part of the solution?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-09-29T14:55:48Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-09-29:/onfaith/2009/09/nuclear_disarmament_a_moral_im.html

Reacting in part to recent missile tests by Iran and North Korea, President Obama and a unanimous UN Security Council last week endorsed a sweeping strategy to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and ultimately eliminate them. Is nuclear disarmament a pro-life issue? Is support for nuclear disarmament a moral imperative? Should we pray for nuclear disarmament?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-09-23T17:43:23Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-09-23:/onfaith/2009/09/should_religious_charities_dis.html

Dozens of major religious groups and denominations are urging Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to renounce a Bush-era memo that allows faith-based charities that receive federal funding to discriminate in hiring. Should religious charities that receive federal grant money be allowed to discriminate in hiring?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-09-17T22:07:03Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-09-15:/onfaith/2009/09/public_anger_and_belligerence.html

In his prayer at the Inauguration, pastor Rick Warren said, "As we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ." Since then, clarity, responsibility, humility and civility seem to have given way to self-righteousness, anger, resentment, and what columnist Kathleen Parker calls "a political era of uninhibited belligerence" that is...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-09-11T12:50:57Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-09-09:/onfaith/2009/09/weapons_in_worship.html

Some New York-area rabbis are planning to bring weapons to High Holy Day services this month to guard against terrorist threats. In June, a Kentucky pastor invited his congregation members to bring their firearms to church to celebrate the Second Amendment. Do weapons belong in worship? Should clergy be armed? Do the Ten Commandments trump the Second Amendment?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham 2009-09-02T14:11:38Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2009-09-02:/onfaith/2009/09/teaching_religion_in_public_sc.html

The Texas Board of Education, the nation's second largest purchaser of public school textbooks, is revising its K-12 social studies curriculum and deciding how to characterize religion's influence on American history. Three consultants have recommended emphasizing the roles of the Bible, Christianity and civic virtue of religion. As America's children go back to school, how would you advise the Texas board? How should religion be taught in public schools?...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham