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 effort, dubbed "Fortnight for Freedom," will involve praying, fasting and rallies against what the Catholic bishops call an assault on religious freedom by the Obama administration. But parishioners worry that the movement is splitting the church. -
The Southern Baptist Convention is expected to elect its first black president on Tuesday: Fred Luter, a former street preacher who turned a dying New Orleans church into a powerhouse. His election is a milestone for the 167-year-old denomination at a time when minorities make up a growing share of a shrinking membership. -
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act discriminates by denying federal benefits to gay married couples. The case is likely to end up being decided by the Supreme Court.
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In a Philadelphia courtroom Thursday, jurors will hear closing arguments in a historic case involving the Catholic sex abuse scandal. William Lynn, a monsignor in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is the first high-level church official to be tried for his involvement in covering up child abuse. -
The Philadelphia clergy sex-abuse trial has been brutal for Monsignor William Lynn, the first high-level Catholic official to be criminally prosecuted. Lynn's charges are not for abusing minors, but for failing to protect children from predator priests. -
A recent poll found that evangelicals favor GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney over President Obama 67 to 22 percent, but a visit to a Dallas church shows they're doing so grudgingly. "This is a call to arms," says one parishioner. "Whether or not we like the choices, we must make a choice." -
President Obama cited his Christianity when supporting same-sex marriage. Other people cited their religion to disagree. Why is there such variation? Part of it has to do with how you read the text. -
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.
