Jeremy Lott of the RealClear world (now an editor-at-large at RealClearPolitics) joins us to discuss his list of the top religious newsmakers of 2013. Unlike a list that focuses on events, his recounting of the year focuses on personalities. The usual suspects, namely Pope Francis, make the list, but so do some other folks that you may not have remembered or even heard of.
We start off the coversation with two leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention — Fred Luter and Russel Moore — who have started to reshape the direction that their denomination is heading. Many of their policy moves represent a softening of the Southern Baptists on the political front and we discuss why this is. Next up, we do cover an “event” that was associated with two individuals — the Boston Marathon Bombing. Jeremy gives his perspective on that event and we speculate to what effect this will have on how we view terrorism in the United States.
Read Full Article »