Hour 1 Next week the Leadership Conference of Women Religious which represents 80,000 American nuns will meet to formulate a response to the Vatican's report that the group has strayed from the Church and had adopted "radical feminist" views.  The reprimand came as a shock to many, but some observers who are familiar with the [...]

Filed under: author, journalism, religion |

Hour 2 There is a lot of talk about the Maya civilization this year. That's because the according to their calendar, the 2012 winter solstice this December is a big deal.  It marks the end of their 5,125-year long creation cycle.  While some have popularly warned that this signas the apocalypse, scholars say the Maya [...]

Filed under: arts, culture, education, history, religion |

Hour 2 After taking the "Food Stamp Challenge," Marty checks in with fellow participants ANNETTE JOHN HALL, Metro columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer;  and the Jewish Federation's Director of Social Responsibility BRIAN GRALNICK. Then, the Republican frontrunner for the American presidency is a Mormon. For the last several months Mitt Romney was running close in [...]

Filed under: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, author, culture, economy, food, politics, religion |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Vanity Fair editor-at-large CULLEN MURPHY believes there is nothing new under the sun about interrogation. He says ingredients for a modern day inquisition are here today as bureaucracies, information technology, and surveillance keep expanding; and there are still religions and totalitarian regimes fixed on an idea, forcing everyone else to tow the [...]

Filed under: author, criminal justice, history, military, religion |

Hour 1 The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has long been used to measure the health of our economy – whether it is growing or retracting – as it tells us the value of the goods and services we consume in a year. An increasing number of economists are questioning whether GDP is an accurate yardstick [...]

Filed under: author, business, economy, education, history, politics, religion, social issues |

Hour 1 Penn professor JOHN DiIULIO has long been an advocate for the role of faith-based organizations in the delivery of social services provided by the government.  Over the years, in the Philadelphia area, he has created programs to mentor the children of prisoners, promote literacy in low-income communities, reduce homicides in high-crime police districts [...]

Filed under: author, crime, criminal justice, history, politics, religion, social issues, teens |

Hour 1 The Iranian opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, is listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization (pdf) for attacks on the Iranian government and for its work with the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But the MEK and its supporters have been trying to get that "terrorist" designation [...]

Filed under: military, politics, religion, world |

Hour 1 Princeton University religion professor ELAINE PAGELS joins us to discuss the history and authorship of the most controversial, apocalyptic book of the bible, the Book of Revelation, in her new book, "Revelations: Visions, Prophesy and Politics in the Book of Revelation." Where did this vision of the end of the world come from? [...]

Filed under: author, history, religion |

Hour 1 Battles over the birth control and abortion are erupting all over the country and dominating headlines this campaign season. Last week Senate Democrats narrowly defeated a Republican-led challenge to President Obama’s contraception coverage policy, which requires health insurance plans to cover the cost of birth control. And some states are debating bills that [...]

Filed under: family issues, health, medicine, religion, social issues |

Hour 1 Will Latino voters decide the next U.S. president? Latinos are the largest minority in the United States at 16 percent and rising. While Arizona has a sizable Latino population, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum received less than 35 percent of their vote. Immigration has been a contentious issue this election season and as [...]

Filed under: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, culture, politics, religion, social issues |