Eight years ago this Friday Sept 12 Pope Benedict XVI delivered a lecture at the University of Regensburg in Bavaria in which he seemed to diagnose Islam as a religion inherently flawed by fanaticism It was an undiplomatic assertion to say the least.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Narendra Nath Datta, better known as Swami Vivekananda (January 12, 1863-July 4, 1902). The Swami was one of the original disciples of the Hindu saint and mystic Ramakrishna (1836-1886).

A study by Creighton University’s Center for Marriage and Family in 1999 indicates that today roughly 40 percent of all Catholics marry non-Catholics.

From 1989: The controversy surrounding 'The Satanic Mysteries' is a paradigm of the difficulties that have existed over the centuries between Islam and the West.