This weekend on State of Belief Radio – Washington Post writer and commentator E. J. Dionne. His new book is Our Divided Political Heart: the Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent. We’ll get insights on the conflicts that overwhelm our politics and society today, as well as some thoughts on the current “religious liberty” lawsuits brought by Catholic institutions against the Obama administration.

When Scott Walker held onto his seat as governor of Wisconsin in the face of a widely-publicized recall election, many said it was a bad sign for Barack Obama. We’ll analyze that and other campaign news with George Washington University’s Greg Lebel.

And Welton will talk to Dr. G. Pearson Cross, head of the Political Science Department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  They’ll take a look at the beginning of the end of public education in Louisiana thanks to a just-signed voucher program that funnels billions of dollars to private schools – many questionable, many intensely religious – the broadest such program in the country.

That’s all coming up – this weekend on State of Belief! Click here for ways to listen.

Ever since the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced its crackdown on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a group that brings together the leadership of 80% of US women religious, many outraged Catholics and supporters have spoken out in the defense of the nuns. The LCWR itself waited to respond until after a board meeting in late May, issuing a strongly-worded statement last week.

The Vatican-appointed overseer, Archbishop Peter Sartain, offered this response. (If you’d like to read the kinds of criticisms the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith unleashed on America’s women religious, the “Doctrinal Assessment” is available here.)

It will be a while before this goes anywhere; LCWR has a general membership meeting coming up in August. But one of the things LCWR is being condemned for is their association with groups that Rome sees as having “radical feminist tendencies.” On that list is NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, which The New York Times reports is hitting the road later this month with – yup, a bus full of nuns: (more…)

In a really interesting conversation, Welton and Einstein’s Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion author Dr. Steve Gimbel, Chair of the Psychology Department at Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg College, explore the influences of religious and cultural identity on the work of this intellectual giant. You’ll hear about some surprising parallels between some attempts to discredit Einstein’s work in his day so as to weaken his political influence, and similar attacks on science and reason today.

From the May 26th, 2012 State of Belief Radio program.

To read the transcript, please click here.