Former Clinton Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, unwisely compared conservative evangelicals to Islamic terrorists. The Editor deconstructs Reich's published remarks to show that the real threat to democracy and an open society lies in intolerant secularism.

The new book, Homeland, tells the story of two Americas, one making it and the other in decline. The book is actually many stories from Middle America, including one about a small-town mayor who stood against the city council’s effort to keep Muslims at bay. This story touches close to home, as you’ll see, and the book by Dale Maharidge with photographs by Michael Williamson might be just the thing you need to read before voting in November.

Patrick Miller’s small book delivers a large wallop because it hits us with the first and most embracing of God’s Ten Commandments: "You shall have no other gods before me." Talk about something important this election year—here it is! Find out why the First Commandment has so much to say to citizens and governments.

Do Bush and Kerry both intend to push forward the social policy reforms initiated with Charitable Choice in 1996? Or would a Kerry presidency mean a retreat from the Clinton-Bush reforms that give faith-based social-service organizations equal treatment in public-private partnerships? The Center’s Stanley Carlson-Thies and Stephen Lazarus assess both candidates and lay out the issues at stake on November 2.

Ballot initiatives in 30 states, including a big one on electoral college reform in Colorado, and many federal, state, and local elections, remind us that more than the presidency is at stake in this election. Moreover, we must also face the fact that our ongoing civic responsibilities have to do with more than just voting every four years. Dig beneath the sound bites of campaign propaganda, says the editor, and work for a more just republic over the long term.

There is more to economic justice than the promotion of growth. Bush and Kerry agree on growth but differ on how to achieve it. Bush stresses government’s service to business and individuals, stressing an "ownership agenda." Kerry thinks more about government’s direct management of the public trust—the commonwealth—especially health care. Neither will reverse deficit spending.

A new book, just off the press from Rowman and Littlefield, represents the latest contribution of the Center’s president, James Skillen, to contemporary debates over domestic policies, including racial justice, environmental protection, education, welfare reform, social pluralism, and electoral reform. Skillen sets his arguments on these issues in the context of the larger debate over the compatibility of Christianity with democracy.