[NOTE: This post originally appeared on The Washington Post’s “On Faith” website.]

Governmental, religious, and cultural leaders on all sides have already spoken, written, or tweeted about the proposed Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center site in Manhattan. So when my friend Eboo Patel asked me to add my voice to the noise, I wasn’t sure what new perspective I could offer.

An expert in constitutional law might see the Cordoba House controversy as a First Amendment issue and demand that the Muslim-Americans organizing the project be allowed to proceed without impediment. A politico might see the matter as an opportunity to score easy points with constituents (right or left) by supporting or denouncing the “Ground Zero mosque.” And a member of the media might see the issue…

This week crowds of worshipers outside Apple Stores around the globe will finally be able to lay their hands on the latest object of their devotion: the iPhone 4. The public was given its first official look at the device a few weeks ago when Steve Jobs descended from his holy digital mountain with the updated phone in his hands. Reports have already circulated about spontaneous rallies of Apple fans, and we’ve seen the video footage of consumers reacting with fits of ecstasy as they hold their new purchase.

The frenzy created every time Apple releases a new product highlights a growing but under-reported phenomenon: the power of consumer brands to supplant traditional religions in peoples’ lives. Many Christians believe the greatest threat to the church today is postmodernity.…

40 years ago the Boeing 747 entered commercial service on route between New York and London. While the spectators marveled at the technological achievement-no one had seen 700,000 pounds of aluminum fly before-no one in the crowd realized that they were also witnessing a sociological revolution-no one except Juan Trippe. Trippe was president of PanAm, the first airline to purchase the massive new Boeing. The visionary businessman knew the huge plane would change air travel, but he predicted much more. Before the plane had even left the drawing board, Trippe said that the 747 would be “…a great weapon for peace, competing with intercontinental missiles for mankind’s destiny.” His remarks may have been interpreted as hyperbole in 1970, but most now agree that the Boeing 747 has been a…

One of the most popular blog posts I’ve written was a theological exploration of evil through the lens of the film, The Dark Knight. To continue the theme of superhero movies and theology, let’s talk about Superman.

After traveling a few weeks ago, I retuned home late one evening after the kids were in bed. After debriefing with my wife, I decided to vegetate by watching Superman Returns…the effort by director Bryan Singer to “reboot” the Superman movie franchise for Warner Brothers. Most critics, including myself, were very disappointed by the film. Superman Returns gives homage to Richard Donner’s Superman films (starring Christopher Reeve) by lifting characters, plot devices, dialogue, and even laugh lines from the original movies. But it had none of the Donner films’ magic.

The failure, I…

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season prior to Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Vice President Joe Biden sparked curiosity when he appeared in public and on television with a smudge of ash on his forehead. One news anchor in the UK had no idea what it was. “What’s happened to his head?” asked Kay Burley on Sky News. “It looks like he’s walked into a door!” The co-host speculated that he had fallen on the ice while attending the Winter Olympics. (As if we needed more evidence that Britain is an utterly post-Christian secular culture.)

Biden is a practicing Catholic, and the ash was part of the Ash Wednesday mass he had attended earlier in the day. While usually associated with Roman Catholic expressions of…

News out of Egypt today reports that 7 Christians were killed in a drive by shooting after a Christmas Eve mass. (Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7.) The article from the BBC says: “Coptic Christians - who make up 10% of Egypt’s 80 million population - have complained of harassment and discrimination. Some Copts argue that previous attacks on them have gone unpunished or have resulted in light sentences.”

This comes on the heels of Fox News anchor Brit Hume complaining on Bill O’Reilly’s show that in our culture if “you speak the name Jesus Christ…all hell breaks loose.” (More on Brit Hume below.) But that raises a question: Are Christians in the US persecuted?

Many would like to think we are. Sure, some folks get uncomfortable when Jesus…

Confession time. I’ve never watched An Inconvenient Truth. I’ve never read Earth in the Balance. In fact I’ve never studied the global warming issue in any depth beyond the occasional news article in Time magazine. I’m not sure this is anything to be ashamed about…I’m probably like many Americans in this regard.

But since Barack Obama has taken office and everything is now green (”green economy,” “green jobs,” “green energy,” “green cars,” and “green business”) I’ve started to actually pay attention to the issue of anthropogenic global warming (AGW).

I know what the “deniers” on the right think. Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying that humans didn’t create life on earth and therefore we cannot destroy it. He says global warming is a myth concocted by lefty scientists to scare…

Today the world’s tallest building is opening in Dubai. There have been a number of “world’s tallest” titles handed out in recent years. Some of the titles have been contested on technicalities…apparently antennas don’t count but spires do. But there is no question that the Burj Dubai deserves to be called the world’s tallest. It has 160 floors and reaches an amazing 2,717 feet up.

But what does this new record holder mean? What does it symbolize?

A brief history of the record holding structures reveals the economic, political, and cultural shifts of the last 200 years. Consider that for most of recorded history the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt, was the tallest structure. It was not surpassed until the Lincoln Cathedral was built in the UK in 1311.  The record…