In his book “Gray Land: Soldiers on War,” portrait and documentary photographer Barry Goldstein writes that “even at its best, day-to-day life in a combat zone has a corrosive effect on mind, body, and spirit.” More →

November 12, 2009

Revisit our November 2007 Web-only essay on dealing with the spiritual and moral pain of war. “My sense is that this is a fundamentally religious issue,” says clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay, an expert on combat trauma. “It’s possible to package it as a mental health issue, but I think we lose out.” More →

November 6, 2009

Read excerpts from THOMAS MERTON: A LIFE IN LETTERS: The Essential Collection edited by Willam H. Shannon and Christian M. Bochen (HarperOne, 2008): November 10, 1958 …It seems to me that, as a contemplative, I do not need to lock … More →

June 4, 2009

by Lorrie Goldensohn In A FAREWELL TO ARMS, Ernest Hemingway famously wrote about the dim possibility of adequate commemoration for those lost in the slaughter of World War I: “I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious … More →

May 22, 2009

Watch Matthew McGarry, Catholic Relief Service’s country representative in Afghanistan, share his thoughts about new US strategy, interfaith relations, and the militarization of humanitarian development. He spoke in Washington on April 17, 2009 at the Brookings Institution: The challenge is … More →

April 24, 2009

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly associate producer Noelle Serper interviewed Michael Walzer, UPS Foundation Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the author of many books on war, political theory, and liberal thought, on March … More →

March 27, 2009

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: As Congress and the Administration begin an all-out debate on whether and when to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, we want to discuss here what America’s moral obligations are now to the Iraqi people. What does … More →

September 7, 2007

Read more of the November 18, 2006 R & E interview with Sam Harris, author of THE END OF FAITH and LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN NATION. More →

January 5, 2007

“We know that we are rooted in Africa, but our sensibilities, our cultural and moral sensibilities, tend not to drive us to appeal for their liberation the same way that we have been driven to appeal for our own,” says Rev. Sean McMillan. More →

August 19, 2005

As Iraqis get ready to elect a new parliament and write a new constitution, we discuss the role of religion in Iraq with Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international affairs and Middle Eastern studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. More →

January 28, 2005