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Reflections on Islam prompted by my recent research trip to Indonesia.

Who's coming to dinner? God's Rottweiler or God's Poodle? Hate male galore on this one too (April 14, 2008).

Opinion piece on "nones" (the religiously unaffiliated)--not to be confused with "nuns" (March 10, 2008).

Not sure why but this one prompted a lot of hate mail. Some personal reflections on my students' efforts to invent their own religions, and what those efforts have to say about the challenges facing Christianity and other traditional religions (February 4, 2008).

Wherein I comment upon such matters as Egg Nog Day and the Festival of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, and then present a modest proposal of my own regarding the proliferation of holiday cheer. . . . (December 23, 2007).

A mixed review of Garry Wills' popular history: "Head and Heart: American Christianities" (December 16, 2007).

Test your knowledge of the world's most influential book in this quiz I prepared for Beliefnet.com (July 2007).

Yes, the Constitution says elected officials cannot be made to pass a test of religious orthodoxy. But how about a test of religious knowledge? In this Beliefnet piece, I say "YES!" (July 2007).

I wish I could say I wrote the headline. I didn't. But I did write this "New York Times Book Review" piece on "Reading Judas" by Elaine Pagels and Karen King. And I liked this book quite a bit better than "God is not Great" (6/24/2007).

My rant against Christopher Hitchens's rant against religion: "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." "The Unbeliever," "Washington Post" (5/6/2007).

My take on Lawrence Wright's masterful narrative history of the events leading up to 9/11, with an emphasis on the Islamic notion of takfir (3/19/07).

Review of J.C. Hallman's "The Devil is a Gentleman" (July 2, 2006).

My most widely reprinted article, this first appeared in the Los Angeles Times on January 12, 2005. It was later reprinted in dozens of U.S. newspapers and in venues in China, India, Qatar, and Africa.

An NPR commentary on beheadings in Iraq.

Six-part exchange with Robert Alter about Mel Gibson's movie about the torture and death of Jesus. I liked the book better than the movie.

Religious studies scholars have long attempted to "bracket" their personal judgments about the religious traditions they study. This short article, reprinted in "Best Christian Writing 2006," calls into question that baseline assumption, wondering whether the study of religion might be better served by scholars who at least partially "unbracket" themselves. For a series of sharp (or is it angry?) rejoinders to this piece, see "Four Responses to 'Belief Unbracketed.'"

One of my Wall Street Journal pieces - on how 9/11 turned the United States from a "Judeo-Christian" nation into a "Judeo-Christian-Islamic" one.

One of my Salon pieces - on the "space burial" of the countercultural icon Timothy Leary.

Boston Globe: on Karen Armstrong's "The Great Transformation"

Wall Street Journal: on Leigh Eric Schmidt's "Restless Souls"

Salon: on Jack Kerouac's "Some of the Dharma"