The new majority Democratic Congress is the most diverse in American history – comprising more women, African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians than any previous body. It is also the most religiously diverse, including two Buddhists, a Muslim, and the highest number ever of Jews (43), Roman Catholics (154), non-denominational Protestants (26), and "unaffiliated" (6). Mormons, at fifteen members, fell one short of their all-time high of sixteen.

Last week, I participated in a Washington Post real-time online chat about divisions in the Episcopal Church around issues of church politics, sexual identity, and biblical interpretation - a combustible combination that I typically try to avoid. But the Post offered me a chance to explain contemporary change in religious communities and I saw it as an opportunity to help people see some important shifts that are happening around us.

From the God's Politics blog:

Every year about this time, Bill O'Reilly opens his "war on Christmas" campaign — his annual attempt to rile up Christians over the "secularization" of the day celebrating Jesus' birth. His targets typically include retailers who wish customers "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" and elementary schools with "holiday programs" instead of Christmas pageants.

I'm betting he won't call attention to the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

A couple friends asked me why I’d been so quiet on this site since the Democrats won both the House and Senate — as well as a fair number of governor’s seats — last week.

I confess: I was stunned by the Democratic wins. Then, reading the polls and surveys, especially the changes in the religious vote (the “God gap” between Republicans and Democrats shrank in all religious categories), I felt grateful that religious people broadened their understanding of “values” to include the war in Iraq and the problems of poverty. Candidates, issues, and points of view that matter to me had emerged victorious in a national election for the first time in a decade.

"Outside of a dog," Groucho Marx famously said, "a book is man's best friend." So consider this our take on the best of the best friends. PW's 100 Best Books of the Year are presented here..."
Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming Faith
Diana Butler Bass(Harper San Francisco)Bass showcases 10 thriving mainline Protestant churches, challenging conventional wisdom about the mainline churches' steady decline.