Every politician’s favorite feel-good line – oft-attributed to de Tocqueville, wrongly – is that “America is great because America is good.” Hillary Clinton cited it often during the campaign, to tell us a story about ourselves, to make voters attend to some aspiration supposedly growing native in our national character to prize liberty, justice, fairness,… Read more »

The election is over. And every one of the problems and pressures that beset civil society remain before us. Public reflections over the last week, as well as semi-public and private conversations – like those we shared with the members of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on Shabbat and Sunday – persuade me that we in… Read more »

Dear Friends, Here are five thoughts on yesterday’s election:   #1 The separation of church and state is sacred in American civil religion. I believe in this creed, and I bet you do, too. This means religious teachings must be beyond the government’s control. And it also means that people who hold divergent political views… Read more »