Outside the Beltway

The novelist, playwright, and social critic Gore Vidal has died, aged 86.

An important ruling on the Obama Administration’s contraceptive coverage mandate from a Judge in Colorado.

The Fort Hood shooter is being ordered to shave his beard or have it forcibly removed. It’s rather silly.

Michele Bachmann and several other Members of Congress are engaging in the despicable tactics of Joe McCarthy.

Would faith survive the discovery that the central premise of the Bible is a lie?

We’ve reached the point where public figures coming out of the closet is barely news anymore, and that’s a good thing.

Mitt Romney faces the same resistance to the idea of a Mormon President that his father did when he ran for President four decades ago.

Jeffrey Goldberg asks, “What if Mitt Romney were Jewish?”

The “Mormon Question” that has long plagued Mitt Romney is being raised again by a new study showing the sentiment rising among liberals and non-believers.

Several conservatives are touting a poll that purports to show a 22 point drop in support for Obama by Jewish voters in New York. Is it believable?

A third of Americans under the age of 30 doubt the existence of God, compared to 14 percent 25 years ago.

When I saw the headline “Black Mormons Face Tough Election Choice Between Romney And Obama,” I naturally presumed it would lead to a parody news piece in The Onion.

There is a disturbing trend in Western nations toward enforcement of laws against “insulting” religions.

The factors influencing Russian policy in Syria are many, and some of them are quite ancient.

Will more knowledge bring an end to the public debate over evolutionary theory? Don’t count on it.

The phrase “American Taliban” is usually off the mark. However, sometimes it is closer to the mark than we might like.

The Catholic Church has fired a legal shot across the bow of the Affordable Care Act.

Andrew Sullivan wants the Catholic Church to give up its hatred of homosexuals. There’s another alternative.

Dharun Ravi was convicted of bias intimidation toward Tyler Clementi. It’s not at all clear that he should have been.

Sure, he routinely uses gender-specific slurs against conservative women. But he’s not a misogynist!

What does it mean to have a limited government?

Rick Santorum’s inability to stay away from the culture wars may have been his undoing.

A discussion in the comments thread of my “Time Running Out For GOP?” post led me to a post from four-plus years ago by frequent commenter and erstwhile blogger* Michael Reynolds titled “Money, Bombs and Jesus.”

Rick Santorum’s views on the role of religion in public life are built on lies about American history.

Rick Santorum is at the front of a brigade that wants to re-fight the sexual revolution. They’ll lose.

The latest round of protests in Afghanistan prove yet again that it’s time for us to leave.

A man who has three degrees from three public universities considers the President of the United States a “snob.”