Barack Obama is edging closer to a decision on whether to reinforce the 68,000 U.S. troops who will be fighting in Afghanistan by year’s end. Since routing out Al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts in Afghanistan after 9-11, the Taliban has made a steady comeback, fueled by failures of the Bush administration, profits from the opium trade,

Not a day passes without world news that demonstrates the need for powerful words, like those of Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi of India: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” The Charter for Compassion (and Ted Talks) recently assembled a diverse group of contemporary leaders to convey a core message of peace between all major faiths.

The Alliance of Nations was established in 2005, at the initiative of the Governments of Spain and Turkey, under the auspices of the United Nations. The program seeks to counter extremism through action based upon cross-cultural dialogue and interfaith cooperation. 20 individuals from

A cross-section of American leaders met recently via the U.S. Muslim Engagement Project in order to address the underlying causes of terrorism, and to help set a new course of action in the Middle East. Terrorism measurements are difficult to pin down. But most intelligence data suggest linkage between the “war on terror” and significant increases in terrorism worldwide.

The record crowd of seven million people impelled to Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day included a huge percentage of students. Nicholas Anderson, 21, who traveled from the University of North Carolina to bunk with friends in Virginia, says he and his friends stepped aboard the metro train January 20th at 3:00 AM, in time to garner a decent view of Barack Obama’s being sworn into office as the 44th President of the United States.

Copyright Reform of the U.S. Congress
I have only just discovered this interesting new voice on the public scene. His name is Lawrence Lessig. If you haven’t already heard of him, you might want to take note. His book, “Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy,” tackles art and copyright issues as they relate to new media. He outlines new realities that creators face in our online world.

In follow-up to my Gateways post on September 25th, Scholar Karen Armstrong is leading the call for a “Charter for Compassion” to be created by people all over the world. As every religion has a history of intolerance, so each religion has principles for overcoming intolerance. The Charter aims to shift religious conceptions and relieve

We are entering a period that promises renewal in our country. Most of us are optimistic that a return to our most deeply held collective values

September brought a sad, sweet farewell to Paul Newman, who died of cancer at the age of 83. Amidst the media gloom and campaign rancor of the season, a glance at his life makes for refreshing fare. What film lover could forget Newman’s understated blue-eyed “Cool Hand Luke,” his tortured soul as Brick in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” his romantic charm as Butch Cassidy. Over the years, his characters helped us to articulate the spirit of our times. He became like a friend, journeying alongside us through the decades. His colleagues have long commented on his lack of outsized ego, his generosity on stage, and his abiding Ohio-born, down-to-earth perspective.