The Arizona State Senate recently approved a bill that would allow public schools to offer an elective class teaching the Bible’s role in Western culture and its influence as a literary work. Critics have been quick to pounce on the bill, claiming that enacting it would equate to forcing religious indoctrination upon public school students.

“Homosexuality is not a biblical term,” guest lecturer Mark D. Jordan, professor of divinity at Harvard Divinity School, said to a packed audience on Tuesday.

Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for PBS NewsHour and host of the radio program “America Abroad,” spoke at Graham Chapel Thursday evening. In his speech, Suarez explored the effects that religion has on politics in American society. His speech, titled “The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America,” followed the subject matter of his 2006 book of the same title.

Harvard professor Marie Griffith has been selected to head the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics starting this summer. As director of the Center, Griffith will be in charge of recruiting staff, developing an intellectual community and implementing the Center’s programs.

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics is launching many new programs and events this semester.
The Center aims to create a community that enables civil discussions on issues of politics and religion. It opened last January after the University received a $30 million endowment for the program from Senator John Danforth and the Danforth Foundation.

[media-credit id=2853 align="alignright" width="400"][/media-credit] I’ve always shied away from politics. I like to stay informed, but I don’t like to argue with people about whether or not this senator is right or that proposition is wrong. With the recent passing of the health care bill, I’ve started to question whether or not a natural aversion to politics is good or bad.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, some of my suitemates and I headed to the Gargoyle for what we thought was an interfaith dinner. Turns out it was a dinner for Intervarsity, an on-campus Christian fellowship…oops.

Religious groups on campus will be hosting events this coming week to raise awareness about different religions and bring the Washington University community together under the umbrella of pluralism.

In Creve Coeur, Mo.—the suburb of St. Louis where I grew up—it is not uncommon to hear people admonish the legal provision of funding for stem cell research, nor is it out of the ordinary when a Catholic bishop sends you mail to tell you how to vote.

A group of Washington University students has revived a secular humanist club on campus. The Washington University League of Freethinkers (WULF), brought back last semester by now-seniors Eddy Lazzarin, Mark Povich and Laura Kelly, is gathering members and working toward official recognition as a Student Union group.