Barbara Bradley Hagerty
Barbara Bradley Hagerty is the religion correspondent for NPR, reporting on the intersection of faith and politics, law, science and culture. Her New York Times best-selling book, "Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality," was published by Riverhead/Penguin Group in May 2009. Among others, Barb has received the American Women in Radio and Television Award, the Headliners Award and the Religion Newswriters Association Award for radio reporting.
Before covering the religion beat, Barb was NPR's Justice Department correspondent between 1998 and 2003. Her billet included the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, Florida's disputed 2000 election, terrorism, crime, espionage, wrongful convictions and the occasional serial killer. Barbara was the lead correspondent covering the investigation into the September 11 attacks. Her reporting was part of NPR's coverage that earned the network the 2001 George Foster Peabody and Overseas Press Club awards. She has appeared on the PBS programs Washington Week and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Barb came to NPR in 1995, after attending Yale Law School on a one-year Knight Fellowship. From 1982-1993, she worked at The Christian Science Monitor as a newspaper reporter in Washington, as the Asia correspondent based in Tokyo for World Monitor (the Monitor's nightly television program on the Discovery Cable Channel) and finally as senior Washington correspondent for Monitor Radio.
Barb was graduated magna cum laude from Williams College in 1981 with a degree in economics, and has a masters in legal studies from Yale Law School.
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The Archbishop of Philadelphia announced on Friday that five priests were unsuitable for ministry because of substantiated sexual abuse allegations — or other inappropriate conduct. Those named on Friday were among some two dozen suspended last year, pending the Archbishop's investigation into abuse accusations.
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Teresa MacBain admits that when she was ordained as a minister, she had big questions. She thought they'd make her faith stronger, but instead they haunted her. Then one day, she couldn't take it anymore. In a move that's left her unemployed and nearly friendless, MacBain has come out as an atheist — and she says it's a big relief. -
Chuck Colson went from being one of the nation's most despised men, who served time in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal, to a hero of conservative Christians. Following a brief illness, he died Saturday at a Northern Virginia hospital with his wife and family at his bedside. -
Conservatives like Republican Rep. Paul Ryan are using religious arguments as they push for cuts to taxes and to services for the poor. That's prompting liberals to push back, saying it goes against Jesus' command to care for the poor. -
It's like the end of a marriage. Earlier this year, a Virginia judge ruled that seven conservative congregations that had split with the Episcopal Church must hand over almost everything they own, including their places of worship. "It's a tremendous loss," says one conservative parishioner. -
The Defense Of Marriage Act prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages — and that means Social Security benefits don't pass on to surviving partners. A lawsuit seeks the same benefits given to heterosexual married couples. -
People gathered around the country Friday to protest the Department of Health and Human Services' mandate on birth control coverage. They're also protesting what they see as a wider abridgment of religious liberties. While the protesters don't reflect most Americans' views, they do represent the views of evangelicals. -
Thousands of people are expected to descend on the Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to celebrate not believing in God. Organizers say it is a chance for atheists to show their power in numbers and change their image.
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Presidential candidate Rick Santorum has said that John F. Kennedy's 1960 speech advocating strict separation of church and state almost made him throw up. But scholars say Kennedy's speech has to be taken in the context of a vastly different political climate — one that was hostile to Catholics. -
The company United In Purpose is going through personal data — from magazine subscriptions to NASCAR ticket purchases — to identify unregistered Christian conservatives and sign them up. UIP hopes to sway the 2012 elections by signing up 5 million new voters.
