interviews

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)

An Interview with David Cay Johnston

By John W. Whitehead
07/17/2008

How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? In Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) (Portfolio, 2007), David Cay Johnston argues that the answer lies in today’s governmental policies and spending that reaches deep into the wallets of the many for the benefit of what he calls the “rapacious rich.”

Johnston shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of governmental regulations quietly went into effect—regulations that thwart competition, depress wages and reward misconduct. From how George W. Bush got rich off a tax increase to a $100 million taxpayer gift to Warren Buffett, Johnston puts a face on all the “dirty little tricks” that business and government pull. A lot of people are getting free lunches. However, there is no such thing as a free lunch. So who is paying the bill? You and me, the American taxpayer. More.

I Don’t Believe in Atheists

An Interview with Chris Hedges

By John W. Whitehead
06/02/2008

In I Don’t Believe in Atheists (Free Press, 2008), best-selling author Chris Hedges identifies the “New Atheists,” including Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, as those who attack religion to advance the worst of global capitalism, intolerance and imperialist projects. He accuses them of a disturbing agenda—embracing a belief system as intolerant, chauvinistic and bigoted as that of religious fundamentalists.

Hedges identifies the main pillars of the new atheist belief system, including a simplified world view of us versus them, intolerance and an irrational belief in science as the force that will resolve all problems, including the irredeemable flaws of human nature. He argues that this belief is itself an act of faith. Most of these atheists, like the Christian fundamentalists, support the preemptive wars of the United States as a necessity in the battle against terrorism and irrational religion. They divide the world into superior and inferior races, those who are enlightened by reason and knowledge and those who are governed by irrational and dangerous religious beliefs. Hitchens and Harris describe the Muslim world in language that is as racist, crude and intolerant as that used by Pat Robertson or the late Jerry Falwell. They misuse Darwin and evolutionary biology, which never posits that moral evolution is possible, just as the Christian fundamentalists misuse the Bible. Hedges argues that they are a secular version of the religious Right.  More.

Life Before Life

Does Science Prove Reincarnation?

By John W. Whitehead
03/21/08

Many believe in the possibility of an after-life, but what about the possibility of a before-life? Is reincarnation possible? Jim B. Tucker, MD, attempts to provide answers to these questions and more in his book Life Before Life:  A Scientific Investigation of Children’s Memories of Previous Lives (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005).

Dr. Tucker is a board-certified child psychiatrist and research director at the University of Virginia Division of Personality Studies. He serves as Assistant Professor of Psychiatric Medicine at the University of Virginia Health System, as well as the medical director of the Child & Family Psychiatry Clinic. Dr. Tucker is currently conducting research into children’s reports of past lives throughout the globe, focusing on the United States.  More.

Target

An Interview with Kathleen Willey

By John W. Whitehead
12/19/07

In her new book, Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Kathleen Willey looks back on her years as a Clinton supporter and fundraiser, describes in vivid detail her allegations of being subjected to unwanted sexual advances in the Oval Office and speaks candidly about the fallout that arose after she went public with her charges of sexual harassment.

Kathleen and her husband Ed Willey, a successful real estate lawyer, had been working together in support of Democratic campaigns throughout Virginia when she first met Bill Clinton at a major fundraiser in 1989. The Willeys helped with fundraising for Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, and once he was elected, Kathleen obtained a volunteer position at the White House.

As Willey recalled in the interview, “My family was in the middle of a very, very severe financial crisis. I had been a volunteer at the White House and had worked real hard to get Bill Clinton elected. And I went to see him to ask for his help. I told him I couldn’t afford to volunteer anymore and asked if he would be able to help me find a paying job. As I was leaving, he sexually assaulted me. I go into detail about it in the book—his hands all over me and the things he said to me that just were not proper.” More.

What Would Jesus Buy?

An Interview with Reverend Billy and Savitri Durkee

By John W. Whitehead
11/28/2007

Preaching a message of “buy less and give more,” Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping took their show on the road, embarking on a cross-country tour that concluded with a musical anti-Disney march down Disneyland’s Main Street in late 2005. They’re now featured in a new film documentary covering this journey and others. What Would Jesus Buy? is produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock and directed by Sundance award winner Rob VanAlkemade. The film focuses on materialism—specifically the commercialization of Christmas, large corporations and their harmful effects on society and globalization. It premiered in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles on November 16, 2007. Taking a short break from their protesting and promoting, Billy and Savitri sat down to talk to me about their mission, their movement and their new movie. More.

Crazy for God

An Interview with Frank Schaeffer

By John W. Whitehead

New York Times best-selling author Frank Schaeffer, the son of Francis and Edith Schaeffer, is a “survivor of both polio and an evangelical/fundamentalist childhood,” an acclaimed writer who overcame severe dyslexia, a home-schooled and self-taught documentary movie director, a feature film director and producer of four low budget Hollywood features that Frank has described as “pretty terrible.”

OldSpeak hosts a provocative interview with Schaeffer regarding his most recent book, Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back. The interview, “Crazy for God,” is a candid discussion of the evolution of the evangelical movement between two individuals, Schaeffer and John W. Whitehead, who were present when the movement began and, in fact, played key roles in its growth. More.

Common Ground

An Interview with Cal Thomas

By John W. Whitehead

With the elections of 2008 a little over a year away, presidential campaigns are already swinging into full gear. The media is abuzz with negative campaigning and discussions of “red” states versus “blue” states. With this emphasis on partisanship and polarization, however, issues of real substance are often obscured while meaningful debate, constructive compromise and thoughtful decision-making are all made impossible. When polarization paralyzes a government and focuses campaigns on division and negativity, what are the costs to the American people? Where did this partisan war begin, and how can it come to an end? 

In their book Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That Is Destroying America, Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel analyze the causes and effects of the existing partisan war in Washington. They decry what they see as the polarizers of today— the media, lobbyists, corporations and more—for fostering this division in their organizations’ own interests. They also hope to expose self-interested originators of political rancor, claiming they “know the gig, and the gig is up.” More.

Is There a War on the Bill of Rights?

An Interview with Bruce Fein

By John W. Whitehead
07/27/2007

Bruce Fein has worked in an impressive assortment of areas in constitutional law, both in the local and international arena. Many distinguished national publications such as the New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Newsweek, among others, recognize his expertise.

Presently, he writes weekly columns for The Washington Times and Politico.com and is a guest columnist for numerous other periodicals. He is invited to testify regularly before Congress and administrative agencies by both Democrats and Republicans. He appears frequently on national and international television, cable and radio programs as an expert in foreign affairs, international and constitutional law, telecommunications, terrorism, national security and related subjects. He is a regular guest at the BBC, C-SPAN, CNN, Reuters, MSNBC and NPR. In March 2007, he co-founded the American Freedom Agenda, which calls for Republicans to turn back to traditional conservative values, particularly limited government.

His books include Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle Over the Constitution and Democracy. He has authored several volumes on the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Constitution and international law. Some notable writings include articles advocating the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Mr. Fein took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to discuss current issues surrounding constitutional freedoms and the current war on terrorism. More.

America: Freedom to Fascism

An Interview with Aaron Russo

By John W. Whitehead
03/19/2007

Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, producer Aaron Russo began promoting rock ‘n’ roll shows at local theaters while still in high school. He helped launch the careers of many legendary performers, such as Led Zeppelin, and also promoted some of the Sixties’ most successful rock acts, including the Who, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

In 1972, Russo began his seven-year partnership with Bette Midler, who attained superstar status during his management of her career. When Russo turned to producing feature films, his production of The Rose introduced Bette Midler to motion picture audiences. Midler received an Academy Award nomination as best actress for The Rose, which is considered by many to be the classic rock ‘n’ roll film. Russo also produced Trading Places starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, which has become a Christmas classic, and Teachers, starring Nick Nolte, Morgan Freeman and Ralph Macchio.

Russo has received numerous awards for his achievements, including a Grammy, a Tony and an Emmy. To date, his films have been nominated for six Academy Awards, as well as seven Golden Globes. His films have won three Golden Globes, as well as the Image Award.

Russo also wrote, produced and directed the 2006 documentary America: Freedom to Fascism. In the film, which is positioned as an expose of the Internal Revenue Service, Russo alleges that there is no law requiring American citizens to pay a direct, unapportioned tax on their labor.

Aaron Russo took a few minutes from his busy schedule to speak with oldSpeak about his documentary, America: Freedom to Fascism. More.

Is the Christian Right a Fascist Movement?

An Interview with Chris Hedges

By John W. Whitehead
03/06/2007

Polls indicate that about 40 percent of the American public agree that the Bible should be taken literally, word for word, and that almost a third of all Americans believe in the rapture, which is the doctrine that those who have accepted Jesus Christ will be raised up into heaven and those who have not will be left to suffer on earth. There are at least 80 million evangelical Christians in the United States attending more than 200,000 evangelical churches. And among the leaders of those churches, there is a core group of fundamentalist ideologues, argues Chris Hedges, who are taking advantage of the despair, isolation and fear that drive many people into these churches and are using it to further a frightening political agenda.

In his new book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (Free Press, 2007), veteran journalist and bestselling author Hedges argues that the Christian fundamentalist movement emerging today in the United States resembles the early fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the beginning of the last century. Chris Hedges took a few moments out of his busy schedule to talk with oldSpeak. More.

Did George W. Bush Engineer the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks?

An Interview with David Ray Griffin

By John W. Whitehead
02/06/2007

"When I came to the conclusion that the Bush-Cheney administration had orchestrated 9/11 in order to promote this empire under the pretext of the so-called war on terror, I decided that I needed to say so by means of summarizing the evidence for this conclusion," said David Ray Griffin, Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Theology, Emeritus, at Claremont School of Theology.

Griffi essays and interviews about 9/11 have appeared in such disparate publications as Conversations in Religion and Theology, Global Outlook, LA Times Magazine and Zion’s Herald. He has also been featured on “The Richard & Judy Show” (London), C-Span, ABC News Radio, and about 200 radio talk-shows. Dr. Griffin has been a leading proponent of the concept that the United States government orchestrated the events of 9/11. He took time out of his busy schedule to discuss his book The Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11. More.

Screwtape Lives: Tempting Faith

An Interview with David Kuo

By John W. Whitehead
12/13/06 

David Kuo is an author and former top Washington, D.C. insider whose connections include some of the most powerful political names in America. As Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and second-in-command of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Kuo worked to provide federal funds and resources to hundreds of faith-based charities across the country to help serve the poor and those in need.

In his New York Times bestseller Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction, Kuo gives readers an inside glimpse into the seductive life of Beltway politics, explaining how Christian voters are used and manipulated by politicians and how President Bush’s own Christian faith was used to entice Christian leaders and voters. He writes that many of America’s leaders have abandoned Christ’s message for the high-stakes political game, where nothing matters as much as votes—not even faith.  Kuo recently took time to answer a few questions for oldSpeak. More.

Jesus Versus the Empire

An Interview with Mark Taylor

By John W. Whitehead
10/09/06

Mark Lewis Taylor is the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Theology and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary. His most recent book, Religion, Politics and the Christian Right: Post-9/11 Politics and American Empire, discusses various themes of post-9/11 U.S. culture, including what Professor Taylor deems “the politics of empire and the ways white racism pervade U.S. interests in empire and religious practice within the U.S. and globally.”

In his book The Executed God: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America, Taylor addressed theologically the issues of the contemporary prison-industrial complex, police brutality and the death penalty. This book won “Best General Interest Award” from the American Theological Association.

He has also been an activist in the current anti-war movement, in “No More Prisons!” movements and regarding policy issues in Mexico and Latin America. He has numerous essays and columns in professional journals, magazines and newspapers on issues of justice and peace in theology and religion. Professor Taylor recently took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for oldSpeak. More.

The ACLU: Demon or Deliverer?

An Interview with Nadine Strossen

By John W. Whitehead
03/30/2006

Whether protecting the right of Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazi groups to march in a parade or defending a Nevada brothel’s right to advertise its services in a city newspaper, over the course of its 80-plus-year history, the American Civil Liberties Union has taken on a panoply of important controversial cases. Its involvement in such landmark Supreme Court cases as Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which banned school segregation, and Roe v. Wade (1973), which legalized abortion, have further added to its reputation as a group that does not shy away from a fight.

In an interview with John W. Whitehead, ACLU president Nadine Strossen responds to criticism of the ACLU’s so-called “agenda to secularize America” and speaks about the ACLU’s positions on issues such as intelligent design, gay marriage, abortion and the Bush Administration’s war on terror. More.

The Kennedy Assassination:
CIA Conspiracy or a Lone Assassin?

An Interview with Joan Mellen

By John W. Whitehead
03/08/06

In A Farewell to Justice, Joan Mellen presents a comprehensive account of the investigative work of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This groundbreaking work offers extensive evidence that the cover-up began in Louisiana months before the President was shot.

Though having a central focus on Garrison’s work, Mellen also undertook her own investigations, seeking to show a clear connection to the government and its intelligence agencies in both the involvement and cover-up of the Kennedy assassination. New evidence includes government documents revealing that the FBI and the CIA actively worked with journalists and reporters from Newsweek and The Saturday Evening Post and even a government operative at NBC television to “cover” the Garrison investigation. Mellen also reveals new information on Lee Harvey Oswald’s relationship to the International Trade Mart and CIA-sponsored anti-Castro figures in New Orleans.

In this OldSpeak interview with John Whitehead, Joan Mellen elaborates on her research into the assassination of John F. Kennedy and challenges readers to reject complacency and engage in the daily struggle to speak truth to power. More.

When Will They Ever Learn?

An Interview with Pete Seeger

By John W. Whitehead
01/04/06

Before the Byrds or Joan Baez or Peter, Paul and Mary, there was Pete Seeger. With his five-string banjo in hand, Seeger helped to lay the foundation for American protest music, singing out about the plight of everyday working folks and urging listeners to political and social activism.

In May 2005, countless tributes were held across the country to celebrate Seeger’s 86th birthday. While many of the legendary men and women Seeger associated with are gone, he continues his political and environmental endeavors. He still seems to subscribe to the same philosophy he held to four decades ago, when he advised young people to follow their hearts and take initiative: “Well, here’s hoping all the foregoing will help you avoid a few dead-end streets (we all hit some), and here’s hoping enough of your dreams come true to keep you optimistic about the rest. We’ve got a big world to learn how to tie together. We’ve all got a lot to learn. And don’t let your studies interfere with your education.”

In this OldSpeak interview with John Whitehead, Pete Seeger—described by Studs Terkel as “the boy with that touch of hope in the midst of bleakness”—speaks out, and even sings out, about his life’s work and his concerns for America’s future. More.

How the Beatles Changed the World

An interview with Steven D. Stark

By John W. Whitehead
Wednesday, November 30, 2005

"Why on earth would anyone need another book about the Beatles?," writes Steven D. Stark in his new book, Meet The Beatles. "Hundreds of volumes have been written about the group in a multitude of languages, describing everything from their musical scores (which they never wrote down because they could neither read nor write music) to a virtual hour-by-hour chronology of each Beatle’s day. Their story has become our contemporary version of the Gospels, each disciple faithfully setting down what Saint John or Saint Paul said to him when it came time to write “She Loves You” or to visit the maharishi in India. As the British rock writer Charles Shaar Murray once put it, theirs is the greatest story “ever told and told and told and told.” And, unlike other pop phenomena, they seem, amazingly, to grow bigger by the year." More.

A Lone Wolf Takes on the Drug Leviathan

An interview with Allen Jones

By John W. Whitehead
10/13/05

Losing Moses on the Freeway

An interview with Chris Hedges

By John W. Whitehead
06/20/05

The posting of the Ten Commandments in public places and buildings has been a decades long cultural and legal battle in the United States. No doubt important to religious groups, the question has always been the Commandments' relevance outside strictly religious confines.

The Commandments are essentially a list of religious edicts, according to passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy, given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. The first four are designed to guide the believer toward a proper relationship with God. The remaining six deal with our relationships with one another. Protestants, Catholics and Jews have compiled slightly different lists, but the core of the Commandments remains the same. Muslims, while they do not list the Commandments in the Koran, do honor the laws of Moses, whom they see as a prophet.  More.

Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis

An interview with Bat Ye'or

By John W. Whitehead
06/09/05

 “I wrote these books,” said Bat Ye’or, “because I had witnessed the destruction, in a few short years, of a vibrant Jewish community living in Egypt for over 2,600 years and which had existed from the time of Jeremiah the Prophet. I saw the disintegration and flight of families, dispossessed and humiliated, the destruction of their synagogues, the bombing of the Jewish quarters and the terrorizing of a peaceful population. I have personally experienced the hardships of exile, the misery of statelessness−and I wanted to get to the root cause of all this. I wanted to understand why the Jews from Arab countries, nearly a million, had shared my experience.”  More.

A Nation Betrayed: Secret Cold War Experiments Performed on Our Children and Other Innocent People

An interview with Carol Rutz

By John W. Whitehead
05/18/05

In 1953, terrified by rumors of Communist “brainwashing” of prisoners of war during the Korean War, then CIA Director Allen Dulles authorized MKULTRA—a program that quickly became notorious for unusual and inhumane testing that the CIA and U.S. military poured millions of dollars into. In fact, while reviewing the “tests” five years later in 1958, one CIA auditor wrote: “Precautions must be taken not only to protect operations from exposure to enemy forces, but also to conceal these activities from the American public. The knowledge the Agency is engaging in unethical and illicit activities would have serious repercussions in political and diplomatic circles.” Most of the documents detailing day-to-day operations within MKULTRA were destroyed by the CIA in 1972. These included limitless LSD experiments on unknowing victims, as well as experiments with sensory deprivation, electro-shock, brain implants, hypnosis and various forms of torture. More.

From Darwin to Hitler

An interview with author Richard Weikart

By Jayson Whitehead
05/16/05

As soon as World War II ended and details of the German Holocaust emerged, the world began to search for answers to explain the Nazis’ motivations for the systematic eradication of millions of Jews. Since then, Adolf Hitler has come to be recognized as the embodiment of evil and is frequently depicted as an amoral, bloodthirsty devil. Yet, as Richard Weikart explains in his recent book From Darwin to Hitler , Germany’s dictator in fact hewed to a strict, if pernicious, moral code, “an evolutionary ethic that made Darwinian fitness and health the only criteria for moral standards. The Darwinian struggle for existence, especially the struggle between different races, became the sole arbiter for morality.” More.

You Are Being Watched, and There Is No Place to Hide

An interview with Robert O'Harrow

By John W. Whitehead
04/01/05

Increasingly, we live in a surveillance state where everything we do and our every transaction, business or otherwise, is watched, videotaped and analyzed. There is virtually nothing that the surveillance state, growing data systems and information companies do not know about the most intricate details of our lives. With the slightest mistake, however, you can be branded for life. More.

Culture Warrior or Anti-Christ?

An interview with Reverend Barry Lynn

By David McNair
10/05/04

If Barry Lynn had his way, he'd go fishing and see more movies. But as long as the Religious Right keeps trying to turn America into a theocracy, the 54-year-old executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU) says he'll continue to stand in their way. "I agree with Pat Buchanan that there is a cultural war for the soul of America," Lynn said. "He was right. A rare moment, but he was right. I didn't start that war. I would like people to be left alone. See, I do believe that, if in fact people were not out there trying to create a theocracy, we would get along." More.

I’m a Pro-Life Democrat:

An interview with the Executive Director of Democrats for Life

By Jayson Whitehead
09/27/04

In July 1992, Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey was barred from speaking at the Democratic National Convention. Although he was a longtime Democrat, he was also avowedly pro-life. "Governor Casey was a diehard true Democrat who fought for the rights of not only the unborn but the working class," said Kristen Day, the Executive Director of Democrats for Life of America (DFLA). To most anti-abortion Democrats, including Day, the governor's snub was a sign that the party had grown more strident in its support for abortion as a fundamental right. More.

God So Loved the World that He Gave Us World War III

An interview with theologian Barbara Rossing about the "rapture burrito"

By John W. Whitehead
07/02/04

In her most recent book, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation (Westview Press, 2004), Barbara R. Rossing, an associate professor at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, challenges the violent interpretation of the book of Revelation as it is presented in Tim LaHaye’s widely popular Left Behind series, and all it presumes to communicate about the future of the world, by offering a positive interpretation of Revelation in which the world is not "left behind." More.

Waging War Against the Barbarians

An interview with Gary Bauer

By John W. Whitehead
04/27/04

John W. Whitehead first encountered Gary Bauer at a meeting on Capitol Hill in the mid-1980s when the young Rutherford Institute founder noticed that the equally youthful Reagan staffer had copies of Whitehead's books in his executive office. The two talked at length about many of the issues they were trying to impact. Nearly 20 years later, the president of American Values continues to display a steadfast commitment to the core beliefs that he fought for and saw fulfilled politically under Ronald Reagan. Today, Bauer is a loyal defender of the current president, and strongly emphasizes the need for Christian involvement on Capitol Hill. At the same time, he stresses that Christians must be careful to "separate the cause of Christ from the political aspirations that people have in both political parties." In this frank conversation with Whitehead, Bauer strikes a consistent balance between his need to influence national politics and follow his personal beliefs. More.

Starting a Brush Fire for Freedom

An interview with U.S. Rep. Ron Paul

By John W. Whitehead
02/09/04

When asked what advice he would give to Americans concerned about the growing power of the federal government and the various threats to our liberties, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.) quoted Samuel Adams: “Every individual has a responsibility to be informed, to know what is going on and to know the issues. As Samuel Adams once said, ‘Go out and start a brush fire.’ And you can do that with one individual or many. You can become a teacher or a writer or help somebody in politics. But you can only start a brush fire for freedom if you feel confident that you understand the issues and really can defend liberty as being the best system for all of us.” More.

Harry Potter and the Christian Cauldron

An interview with Potter apologist Connie Neal

By Jonathan Whitehead
06/25/03

Since the initial publishing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 1997, over 25 million books in the Harry Potter series have been sold in the U.S. in hardcover alone, with the fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, boasting sales of over 8 million. With the fervor for the upcoming release of the fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, at an incredible high, there is no doubt that author J.K. Rowling has created a phenomenon in Harry Potter. But one thing she probably did not count on was the hatred the books have drawn in certain religious circles. More.

A Christian Humanist

An interview with Image editor Gregory Wolfe

By Jayson Whitehead and Joshua Seth Anderson
03/17/03

In 1989, Greg Wolfe founded Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion with the vision to create a forum for artistic expression that explores the intersection of the religious and physical worlds from a Judeo-Christian perspective. In the first issue, he wrote, "Religion and art share the capacity to help us to renew our awareness of the ultimate questions: who we are, where we have come from, and where we are going…. Religion and art are, in the end, prophetic, reminding us both of the glory of man and the fragility of human institutions." More.

"Conversion Is Always Difficult"

An interview with Lauren Winner

By Jayson Whitehead
03/10/03

Born to a Jewish father and a Southern Baptist mother, Lauren Winner was raised Jewish because of an agreement her parents made when they married. Although her parents were basically lapsed in their beliefs, Winner was drawn to religion from an early age. When her parents divorced, she moved in with her mother and continued her Jewish education. But because of her mother’s Gentile heritage, Winner was not technically considered a Jew until she formally converted to Judaism at the end of high school. More.

Socialite or Social Martyr?

A conversation with Arianna Huffington

By John W. Whitehead
03/04/03

Arianna Huffington describes herself a "social martyr" by taking principled stands on issues like gay rights, gun control, and abortion when she was a Republican in the early 90’s. More recently, she changed direction with her decision to register as an Independent. She turned heads by openly criticizing the corporate and political elite she once rubbed shoulders with, calling for an overthrow of our current political system—which she calls a "nexus of greed and corruption between Washington and corporate America." More.

The Reverend Billy Wants You to Stop Shopping

By Jayson Whitehead
02/17/03

"Save your soul my child," a booming voice screams. "Back away from that silly little product on that shelf." The tone and mannerisms suggest a Baptist preacher from the Deep South, but the message sets it apart. "I adopt the verbal instrumentation of a fundamentalist but am saying something a fundamentalist would never say," the Reverend Billy says. "However, if they paid attention to certain aspects of Jesus of Nazareth, that’s what they would say." More.

Barry Manilow Got Saved

Randall Terry Makes a Comeback

By John W. Whitehead
02/10/03

"You'll find out when you reach the top, you're on the bottom," sang Bob Dylan in 1975. If we take this assertion as truth, it serves as a perfect description of Randall Terry’s last decade.
The story of Randall Terry’s rise and fall begins in 1987 with the formation of Operation Rescue. The anti-abortion group provided a much-needed umbrella to the burgeoning pro-life movement and subsequently made its founder both a star and a pariah. By the mid-90s, Terry could boast (as his website does) that OR was "the largest peaceful civil disobedience movement in American history," accounting "for over 70,000 arrests from 1987 to 1994." More.

A Christian Mafia

An interview with Chris Seay, author of The Gospel According to Tony Soprano

By Jayson Whitehead
01/27/03

When Chris Seay first stumbled across an episode of HBO’s "The Sopranos," he immediately liked what he saw. Well-written and peppered with short-clipped dialogue, the show follows the exploits of mob boss Tony Soprano as he confronts crisis after crisis within his own family, with close ties, and with outside foes. Unlike any other popular medium, the show deals realistically with issues like loyalty, spirituality, fear, insecurity and infidelity–but enacted in a Mafia setting. "The Sopranos" also features scenes of graphic violence, language and sex. More.

A Powerful Figure

An interview with civil rights activist Julian Bond

By John W. Whitehead
01/20/03

"Martin Luther King was a universal leader," says Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP. "He wasn’t an African American leading other African Americans. He was a universalist. He believed in the common humanity of all, really a giant, if not the giant, figure of the 20th century."

Bond himself could rightfully be called a giant. As a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1960, he co-founded the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights, a student civil rights organization that worked to desegregate Atlanta’s movie theaters, lunch counters, and parks. During his tenure with the group, Bond was arrested for sitting-in at the then-segregated cafeteria at Atlanta City Hall. More.

Ready to Give an Answer

An interview with Pat Boone

By John W. Whitehead
12/02/02

Born in 1934 and raised in Nashville, Tenn., Pat Boone was an unlikely candidate to be one of rock and roll's first stars. A Bible-toting Christian since his early teens, Boone was the epitome of a clean-cut kid. He served as student body president his last year of high school and by the time he recorded "Ain't That a Shame" in 1955, he had become a husband and father. His cover of Fats Domino was the first of a string of hits (eventually 38 in the Top 40) whose sheer commercial success was rivaled only by another Southern boy, Elvis Presley. More.

Bringing the Witness

An interview with Christian peace activist Ken Freeland

By Jayson Whitehead
11/18/02

"Today I’m finding while there’s still some hard left political orientation among some protesters, there’s also an increasingly large [group of] religiously oriented protesters," says Ken Freeland. An antiwar activist since the Vietnam War, Freeland has always based his stance for peace on Christian beliefs. For him, Jesus Christ set the example. "He never took up a sword. He never threatened anybody with death," Freeland says. "He never suggested that the use of military violence or personal violence was appropriate." More.

Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

An interview with Author Daniel Dreisbach

By John W. Whitehead and Casey Mattox
10/28/02

In 1802 Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to the Danbury, Connecticut, Baptist Association in which he described the First Amendment as erecting a "wall of separation between church and state." That phrase, largely forgotten for nearly 150 years, was reintroduced to our lexicon in 1947 by Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in his opinion in Everson v. Board of Education, a case holding that state funded transportation of all students to and from their schools, including parochial schools, was constitutional. The wall metaphor has since been accepted by most Americans, and many jurists, as the authoritative description of the interaction between religion and civil government countenanced by the First Amendment. In his latest book, Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State, Daniel Dreisbach exposes the history of the wall metaphor and argues that the wall is rooted in anti-Catholicism and the fear of religious influence on public life. More.

Turning Back to the Things of God

An interview with conservative commentator Cal Thomas

By John W. Whitehead
10/21/02

Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas has been called a "gay-bashing, low-life, neanderthal, Republican slime-ball," "hypocrite, disgusting coward," "idiot," and "lying, narrow-minded, bigoted, ratty twerp." And this is just a sampling from hate mail posted on his own website, Calthomas.com. Often grouped with commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Thomas is a less sensationalistic, more thoughtful antidote to the talk radio host. While his following has grown from an initial column in the Los Angeles Times in 1984 to a current weekly syndication in 540 newspapers, his opinions on what America should be doing both abroad and at home still earn him the weekly ire of left-leaning readers. "I can’t judge myself," he says. "I have to leave that to God." The one-time political pundit seems to be doing just that, replacing his faith in government with a belief in God. "During my years of hands-on political activism, I never converted anybody to my point of view," Thomas says. "However, I did have, and have had, and am having on many occasions the privilege of leading somebody to Christ." Breaking from the penning of his latest polemic, Thomas talks with John W. Whitehead about the state of Christianity, its innocuous involvement in politics, and how real change can be wrought. More.

Lincoln's Virtues

An interview with author William Lee Miller

By Jayson Whitehead
10/14/02

On the one-year anniversary of September 11, New York Governor George Pataki broke the moment of silence at Ground Zero by reciting the Gettysburg Address. First delivered on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln’s brief speech (three paragraphs in length) is one of America’s greatest historical documents, generally considered, as the Library of Congress states, "one of the gems of the English language, placed somewhere alongside Shakespeare’s soliloquys and the Magna Carta." William Lee Miller, a scholar at Charlottesville, Virginia’s Miller Center, concurs. "Lincoln had a particular talent to give strong short expression to powerful underlying emotions," he says. "He struck for lasting abstractions expressed in emotion-laden language, without current details that would date it." More.

Seen From Above

An interview with artist Daniel Kohn

By David McNair
09/30/02

As one of many visual artists who took part in World Views, a cultural program offering vacant office space in Tower One of the World Trade Center, Daniel Kohn painted several views of the New York landscape from his 91st floor studio. Of course, on September 11, 2001 the landscape paintings that Kohn produced during his residency in 1998-99, which he says "embody the physical sensations of being up there in the Towers," took on a new significance. In a matter of hours they were transformed from simple meditations on place into haunting images of an interior view that no longer existed. More.

Why We Are Americans

An interview with Nat Hentoff

By John W. Whitehead
09/18/02

"The danger we now face is admittedly greater than any we have had before," Nat Hentoff matter-of-factly says of civil liberties in present-day America. A Village Voice writer since the 1960s, Hentoff is known for his acidic attacks on compromised political power and as a defender of the First Amendment. He initially gained recognition in the 1950s as a jazz writer but by the ‘60s had earned a reputation as a free speech and civil rights advocate for his exposes of civil rights abuses in the South as well as his defenses of controversial figures like Malcolm X and Lenny Bruce. He has drawn heat in recent years as a lone pro-life advocate in a "liberal" world and for quitting the ACLU over their policy of refusing to reveal results of HIV tests on newborns. More.