Way Down in the Hole (Tom Waits). Preachin' Blues (Son House). Stand Up, Stand Up for Judas (Leon Rosselson). Atheists Don't Have No Songs (Steve Martin). I'm on My Way to Canaan Land (Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry).
Steve Martin fills a gap in the seasonal hymnal by creating a song for atheists. Musically appropriate, if irreverent. Find more Alt-Xmas music here.
Burt Lancaster stars as the religious huckster Elmer Gantry in the 1960 movie version of Sinclair Lewis' novel. Find more Alt-Xmas music here.
George Carlin brings comic heat to the belief in the Invisible Man and the -- ahem -- inconsistencies in the story.
The Vatican has been turned upside down, but can he ensure that his radical changes to the Church will last?
"The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules," Francis says. "Ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all." In general, he seems to suggest he wants the church to come off as less judgmental and more pastoral, though without becoming morally "lax."
Religious conservatives in Texas are fighting to infuse textbooks with their agenda—and it won't just affect public school students in the Lone Star State.
While it’s probably too early to declare victory over the Pat Robertson types, a new opinion survey definitely suggests a new political future — with religious progressives wielding growing influence — is possible.
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