By TERRY MATTINGLYFriday, May 09, 2008For millions of users, the World Wide Web has turned into a devil's den packed with urban legends, pop-up porn, Nigerian get-rich schemes and tidal...

By DAVID YOUNTFriday, May 09, 2008 Truth may be stranger than fiction, but novelists work hard to ensure that their books are true to life. My wife, who writes murder...

By TERRY MATTINGLYFriday, May 09, 2008If there's one thing other Christians know about the ancient churches of the East it is that Orthodox believers usually get to buy their Easter...

By DAVID YOUNTFriday, May 09, 2008Despite gains in reducing world poverty, 1 billion people continue to live on just a dollar a day -- the accepted measure of absolute poverty....

By TERRY MATTINGLYFriday, May 09, 2008The headlines and dramatic photos rush by during a papal visit, framing the sound bites that journalists uncover in stacks of Vatican speech texts. So...

By DAVID YOUNTFriday, May 09, 2008Nothing so epitomized Pope Benedict XVI's visit to America than the stirring hymn that concluded his White House appearance. It was Julia Ward Howe's "Battle...

By DAVID YOUNTFriday, May 09, 2008Redemption is usually considered to be the prerogative of religion. The extraordinary effectiveness of the Salvation Army worldwide in redeeming the down-and-out is but one...

By TERRY MATTINGLYFriday, May 09, 2008Most editors and reporters would panic, or call their lawyers, if news executives asked religious questions during job interviews. Yet it's hard to probe the...

By MICHAEL COLLINSFriday, May 09, 2008For all of the respect and adulation he commands, Pope Benedict XVI remains a mysterious figure to many Americans. So when the pontiff sets foot...

By DAVID YOUNTFriday, May 09, 2008The first visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States this month will not be a purely social occasion. As the octogenarian leader of...