Extremists often derive their inspiration from literal interpretations of texts that should rightly be read not as Associated Press reports from the ancient world, but as theological and literary enterprises requiring independent intellectual assessment.

New York: Random House. Affiliations
A contributing editor of The Washington Monthly Meacham is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University in 2005 and holds five other honorary doctorates.

He is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. He is a former editor-in-chief of Newsweek a contributing editor to Time Magazine editor-at-large of WNET and a commentator on politics history and religious faith in America.