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Crazy for God: How I Was Born as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All - or Almost All - of it Back

Probably no religious movement in America has been more talked about in the last 25 years than the so-called Religious Right. Usually the conservative crusade is analyzed by outsiders. But now Frank Schaeffer-a former Religious Right kingpin and "700 Club" regular-has written about it from the inside.

Schaeffer's book, "Crazy for God: How I Was Born as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All - or Almost All - of it Back," offers a rare look at his life inside the movement, and why he eventually left. At once an emotional memoir and a tell-all confession, Schaffer's book shows what happens when you "lose your faith and yet pretend to have it, because there are bills to be paid, because you are booked up for a year, because this is what you do."

Schaeffer offers his candid views on the current leaders of the Religious Right and the "Disney-fication" of religion in America today.

Frank Schaeffer, former evangelical documentary filmmaker, novelist, and author of "Crazy for God"

Don't Call Him Bozo - it's "Bernie the Boobysattva"

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"Clown" and "Zen master" aren't two job titles you usually find in the same person. But that's exactly what our guest, Roshi Bernie Glassman, can honestly call himself. Besides being a pioneer of the American Zen movement, he is known under the moniker "Bernie the Boobysattva."

Glassman grew up in a Jewish family with strong socialist leanings in Brooklyn, NY but as a young adult he began studying Zen Buddhism with Taizan Maezumi Roshi, the founder of the Zen Center in Los Angeles. Eventually, he founded the Zen Community of New York, and created a series of social initiatives for those in need, called the Greyston Mandala.

In the 1990s, Glassman went on to found a community of peace activists called the Zen Peacemaker Order. Most recently he founded the Order of Disorder-a spiritually-based order of actual, trained clowns-which supports refugees from all over the world.

Glassman is especially interested in socially engaged Buddhism, which blends spirituality with social action. An internationally acclaimed speaker on Zen Buddhism, he is the author of several books, most recently "Infinite Circle: Studies in Zen."

Roshi Bernie Glassman, Zen Master, founder of the Zen Peacemaker Order, professional clown

Vatican Investigates Theology Book for "Errors"

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Rev. Peter Phan, former President of the Catholic Theological Society of America, is currently under investigation for his new book, "Being Religious Interreligiously." The Vatican suspects that Phan, who is a prominent Catholic theologian, may have made some theological "errors." Phan is a professor of theology at Georgetown University.

Discussing the case and its implications for Catholicism is Tom Roberts, editor of the independent weekly newspaper, the National Catholic Reporter.

Tom Roberts, Editor of the independent weekly, National Catholic Reporter

Religious Books Back in Prisons

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A couple weeks ago, we reported that the Federal Bureau of Prisons had begun a new policy banning nearly all books on religion from federal prisons-except those on small, approved lists. The goal was to purge any materials that might incite terrorism behind bars.

Now, in a dramatic change, thousands of books removed from Chapel Library shelves in June of this year are being returned. But the struggle is not yet finished.

Laurie Goodstein, who wrote the original story for the New York Times, joins us to discuss where the policy stands today.

Laurie Goodstein, religion reporter, New York Times

"God Answers Knee-Mail," and other American Church Signs

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Some of the most memorable church signs read like one-liners from your uncle. They're corny, in bad taste, and use way too many puns. Case in point:

"7 days without prayer makes one weak"
Berkley Heights, New Jersey

"Give God what is right, not what is left"
Rogersville, Alabama

"Worry is the darkroom in which negatives are developed"
Nashville, Tennessee

"Love God with all your heart, then do whatever you want"
New York, New York

 "Science only goes so far, and then comes God"
Lynchburg, Virginia

Despite their sappy sentiments, many church signs can be genuinely inspiring. A few years ago, Nashville resident Donald Seitz became so uplifted by a church sign that he convinced his wife and then three-year-old son to pile into the car and help him find more. Over the next three years they traveled more than 20,000 miles across the back roads of America, snapping photos of the mawkish marquees wherever they could find them.

The result of their photographic odyssey is a self-published book, "The Great American Book of Church Signs."

Produced by Laura Kwerel.

Donald Seitz, author, "The Great American Book of Church Signs"