Tom Gjelten reports on religion, faith, and belief for NPR News, a beat that encompasses such areas as the changing religious landscape in America, the formation of personal identity, the role of religion in politics, and conflict arising from religious differences. His reporting draws on his many years covering national and international news from posts in Washington and around the world.
Henry Kissinger, a hawkish and towering figure in foreign policy circles, has died at the age of 100. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Nov. 29, 2023.)
Kissinger's guiding foreign policy principle was that strategic national interests take priority over more idealistic aims, like the promotion of human rights and democracy.
America's diversity means it is not defined by a single ancestry or faith tradition. Americans may nevertheless unite behind a "civil religion" that incorporates the nation's founding principles.