On Nazis, Redemption and Racial Justice

It is a remarkable thing, that should I have the means and desire to do so, I could comfortably vacation in Germany. I could spend an afternoon in Berlin, walking along a path that once split the city for a generation. I could hike the Black Forest, see the castles of Saxony and drink myself silly at Oktoberfest. Or of course, as has become a rite of passage for so many Jews of my age, I could visit the remains of a Nazi concentration camp, skillfully preserved in displays and museums that are w

Pope Says 'Nope'

On Feb. 11 the Vatican confirmed that Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, known to most of the world as Pope Benedict XVI, has decided to resign his post, leaving the Holy See vacant for a reason other than papal death for the first time since 1417, when Pope Gregory XII resigned to resolve the Western (‘Great’) Schism. Pope Gregory XII, however, was forced into resignation by a specially formed ecumenical council. The last time a pope stepped down of his own volition was in 1294, when Pope Celestine V r

The Trouble with Unassailable Belief

Much outrage has erupted in the Middle East in these past weeks in response to Innocence of Muslims, a low-budget internet movie trailer that portrayed Muslims as mindlessly violent and easily drawn to anger. This outrage quickly grew into protest, where the offended Muslim parties tried to fight these unfair allegations by storming the streets with violent protests, flag burnings and rioting. Several dozens of people have died in these protests, including Christopher Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to

Gradual, Passive Secularization is Too Slow

We live in a postmodern society: in fact, in the most promising one that has ever existed. We have cured epidemics, created previously unimaginable transportation and communications systems, conceived methods of going to different worlds and have seen life spans and life qualities go up at near exponential rates. But technological advances aren’t the only significant ones we’ve seen: violence rates are at their all time low, literacy in the United States stands at 99 percent, we have now one of

Resource Responsibility

Despite hosting only about 4.5 percent of the world’s population, the United States is responsible for consuming 24 percent of the Earth’s total petrolium-based energy. According to PBS, per capita, this amounts to the average American consuming roughly the same amount of energy as two Japanese, six Mexicans, 13 Chinese, 31 Indians, 128 Bangladeshis, 207 Tanzanians or 370 Ethiopians. Consumption doesn’t stop at fuel; we consume 30 percent of the world’s paper, 20 percent of its metals and 60 per