Christopher Hitchens an atheist and best-selling author has provided a political sequel to his popular a-theological work God Is Not Great Gadflies such as Hitchens often try to attach themselves to past luminaries to bolster their causes In this case the author has fastened onto Thomas Paine

Writing in The Washington Post 15 years ago the reporter Michael Weiskopf famously characterized evangelical Christians as ldquo poor uneducated and easy to command rdquo No doubt there are some evangelicals who fit that description as there are some people like that in every segment of Americ

ldquo There is rdquo writes Robert McClory ldquo a democratic dynamic in the church rsquo s self-awareness rdquo No dogma is not subject to a vote Yes the church must assert its teachings popular or not Yes a certain hierarchical structure is part of the church rsquo s unity At the sam

The former White House speechwriter Michael Gerson widely credited with authorship of such George W Bush catchphrases as ldquo axis of evil rdquo and ldquo the soft bigotry of low expectations rdquo is no stranger to big ideas And here he has assumed no small task In Heroic Conservatism Ge

A history of liturgical renewal at Vatican II, reviewed

Charles Morris has written several acclaimed books mdash on the Gilded Age financial crises the A A R P I B M the arms race New York City and the Catholic Church in America He writes like the best professor you ever had mdash no dumbing down presenting complex material in an engaging manner