It’s graduation season, and as such a golden opportunity to observe the various ways religion is handled in American public life circa 2013.

Passive acceptance or even glorification of suffering can be adaptive when people have no choice. But why does so much religion -- particularly Catholicism -- fetishize pain?

Feelings of fear and powerlessness are driving the cycle of violence that surrounds us. To change that, we need to recognize that we need each other to thrive as individuals.

Or, how to win a culture war—a modest proposal.

As the Supreme Court prepared to hear challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act and to Proposition 8, the substance of their eventual judgment seems less and less relevant.

Could it be as simple as that? Author Jonathan Rowe thought so, and tried it out in his own hometown.

Do Twitter devotions change the meaning of prayer?

Whether yoga is religious is a less important question than whether we really have separation of church and state in the public schools.

From the Louisiana colony to the California Gold Rush, prostitutes were some of the first women in early American settlements.

Our interconnected world makes an amicable divorce a bit more complicated than just breaking up the states.

Happy Darwin Day! Celebrate and be condemned to eternal damnation.

How economic democracy has been in constant battle with concentrated-wealth-based capitalism, which is threatened by a more equal distribution of wealth.

The technical and scientific forces that created a life of unparalleled luxury—as well as unrivaled military and economic power—for the industrial elites are the forces that now doom us.

The Virginia’s General Assembly's served notice that 2013 may offer a repeat of last year's high-profile fights on abortion rights that are still fresh in the memories of legislature observers.

Several new archaeological finds suggest that alcohol has been a social glue in parties, from work festivals to cultic feasts, since the dawn of civilization.

Why did the Founding Fathers believe so strongly about gun ownership that they included it within the Bill of Rights, which guarantees the freedoms of every American against tyranny?

2012 was another human rights disaster for the Arabs in Palestine.

A new quality-of-life index shows that when it comes to the best place to be born in 2013, the US is way behind.

Not exactly - but it is easy to sympathize with the Dalai Lama’s frustration. After millennia of being preached at by priests and prophets, humanity is still addicted to war; we continue to lay waste to the planet’s fragile ecosystem; we torture animals, repress ethnic minorities, and ignore the plight of the poor.

Sex was emotionally loaded territory for me. Until I found freedom in the arms of a couple.

Opponents of same-sex marriage went 0-for-4 in the election. But they have lots of excuses.

There are many people falsely accused of crimes doing time in for-profit American gulags, and many more waiting to replace them. This situation might be good for the for-profit prison system and a few major stockholders but it spells Dante's Inferno for those forced to take the plea.

Am I man enough? Am I powerful enough? Men put their bodies at risk to cover up pain, fear, and vulnerability.

The Knights of Columbus still support immigrants’ rights, but those sober-faced men marching down Main Street in full parade regalia are also part of an organization that was the single largest donor in support of California’s Proposition 8.

When my husband lost his job, we landed in the 47 percent -- and learned how cruel other people's judgment can be.

As the atheist movement matures and becomes more politically engaged, deep divisions are emerging -- that's not necessarily a bad thing.

How money has shaped Mormon culture.

Probably as many Middle Easterners wonder, ‘why do they hate us?’ as we have wondered of them.

My husband and I have always had political conflict. But as this election nears, things are getting ugly.

When a Pennsylvania jury sentenced Terrance Williams with the death penalty, they didn't know he had suffered years of violent sexual abuse at the hands of his victim.

“Right-to-die” advocates have mounted a high-profile initiative campaign in what might seem to be unlikely territory: heavily Catholic Massachusetts.

Men have been in the business of deciding when it is okay and when it is not okay to rape women for thousands of years.

It happens—and in many states there are no laws to keep rapists from terrorizing their victims all over again. Read on, Todd Akin.

We have such an eroded public safety net that folks are reduced to selling their life insurance policies for the sake of paying their medical bills.

Money is the least of our problems. It’s time to pay attention to the real deficits that are killing us.

Delhi Charter School’s policy manual states that the school has the right to require any female student to take a pregnancy test if teachers or administrators suspect they are pregnant. Those who test positive or refuse to take the test are prohibited from attending classes on campus.

Sleeping around once had its benefits, but turns out women may have given up better fertility for better security. (This is obviously a step backwards. –B)

This is a moment for all Americans to be proud of the single best thing George W. Bush did as president: launching an initiative to combat AIDS in Africa that has saved millions of lives.

Here's why we need parks, streetlife, squares, markets, trails, community gardens and other hang outs more than ever.

Exploring the world of ‘Purity Balls’.

A new bill allows children to have more than two legally recognized parents. Cue: Conservative freakout.

Even as an atheist, I have more confidence in religious people. And now science is backing me up.

Parents and right-wingers revolt when a teacher dares answer fifth-graders' questions with honesty and respect.

There isn’t an atheist running for President this year, but in case one is waiting in the wings, the latest Gallup Poll holds some good news. For the first time since the Gallup organization began asking the question, a majority of Americans—54 percent—would vote for an atheist. (I’m not going to hold my breath on this one. –B)

Two of the most damaging misconceptions people have about labor unions are (1) that union members tend to be substandard workers (lazy, unreliable, surly, privileged), and (2) that union members can’t be fired because their “masters” will always go to bat to protect them.

A Gallup poll last month revealed that almost half of Americans are anti-empiricists—that is, they trust ancient descriptions of the world they live in over scientific explanations developed through a direct experience of it.

People are delaying marriage (or not getting married at all) far more than they used to -- and it's for a reason.

Is the adoring political spouse – so much a part of the political landscape that she has her own iconography, from knit suits to the dreamy upward gaze at her man – receding into the past?

How the gay movement's successes surpassed feminism and civil rights -- and became a model for a new era.