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It’s gotten ugly out there in the public square—on television, at public meetings, on the Internet.

Whether it’s health-care reform specifically or politics generally, it is common to see people demonizing each other, shouting each other down and gleefully circulating vicious e-mail messages distorting the other side.

So much so that Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy in New Orleans recently found common ground about one, clear thing. They’ve decided to give their congregations a message: Get ahold of yourself!

Part of the continuing education for religious leaders of all types ought to involve occasional Sunday mornings spent not in church but observing the way that an increasing percentage of Americans spend their Sunday mornings. I came upon this idea some years ago when I found myself at home on a Sunday with reasons not to show up at church, since everyone was expecting me to be away.

Longtime executive Bill Anderson has resigned after more than two decades as the leader of the CBA, the major umbrella group for Christian retailers. Anderson, 61, abruptly ended his role as president and CEO of CBA, the organization formerly known as the Christian Booksellers Association, in late October, as reported by Christian Retailing in its December 7 issue. Anderson gave no reason for his departure. He became the association’s first full-time convention manager in 1978. At its peak in 1999, the annual summer convention had close to 15,000 in attendance.

In this book, Richard T. Hughes offers a powerful argument against what he calls the myth of a Christian America. A distinguished professor of religion at Messiah College, Hughes makes a case that ranges across history, biblical studies and theological ethics. He wants to measure the idea of a Christian America against a biblical standard, so he cites passages of scripture, holds the history of the United States next to them and concludes that the idea of a Christian America is neither true nor desirable.