Religion

Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first female bishop to preside over the Episcopal Church, has faced a number of crises since she accepted the post in 2006. At least one diocese has seceded in response to the ordination of the denomination's first openly gay bishop, and more may follow.

Ex-journalist and Belief.net co-founder Steven Waldman talks about Bill Maher's new film Religulous, and about how faith is figuring in this political season — notably in the candidacy of vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin.

The new documentary Religulous offers a satirical — and critical — look at the world's religions. Directed by Larry Charles, the film features Bill Maher posing undercover as a man seeking spiritual guidance from various religious groups.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama are courting the religious vote, but whose campaign will be more effective? Journalist Dan Gilgoff, the politics editor for Beliefnet.com, discusses the candidates' tactics.

Twitchy undertaker, cubicle fiend, sassy convenience-store clerk — Rainn Wilson has long gravitated toward eccentric characters. But is The Office actor attempting the leap to sex symbol through his titular role in The Rocker? Given the hair-metal coif and the still-goofy humor, probably not.

Novelist Ron Hansen is best known for his tales of Western bandits and whiskey runners, but he claims his inspiration for these unsavory characters is divine. The author of Exiles discusses writing, faith and his status as a Catholic deacon in a secular literary world.

Reverend Carroll Pickett was the death-house chaplain at the Walls prison unit in Huntsville, Texas for 13 years. During his tenure, he ministered to 95 inmates executed by lethal injection. He is the subject of a new documentary, At the Death House Door.

Singer-composer Nick Cave composed the soundtrack for last year's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; he also wrote the screenplay and the soundtrack for The Proposition. Now, Cave has released a new CD with his band the Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

It's been four years since Gene Robinson was consecrated bishop of a rural Episcopal diocese in New Hampshire. He's faced challenges and controversies as that denomination's first openly gay bishop — and he's written about them in a new memoir, In the Eye of the Storm.

Theologian Dwight Hopkins provides a historical perspective on black liberation theology. Hopkins is an ordained Baptist minister and a professor of theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School.