Faith vs. the Faithless  —  Jon Meacham is the editor of Newsweek and the author of "American Gospel," which describes the history of religious liberty in the United States.  Richard John Neuhaus is the editor in chief of First Things and the author of "The Naked Public Square," …

C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations  —  The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency's custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program …

Review of Iran Intelligence to Be Sought  —  As Conservatives Reject New NIE, Republican Senators to Urge Congressional Panel  —  Senate Republicans are planning to call for a congressional commission to investigate the conclusions of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran …

Judith Nathan got security earlier  —  Judith Nathan got taxpayer-funded chauffeur services from the NYPD earlier than previously disclosed - even before her affair with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani was revealed, witnesses and sources tell the Daily News.  —  "It went on for months before the affair …

Islam's Silent Moderates  —  The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with 100 stripes: Let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day.  (Koran 24:2)  —  IN the last few weeks …

For Some, Negative Turn is a Turn-Off  —  DES MOINES — Once, Garry Thomas counted himself a Hillary Clinton supporter — even signing up to be one of her 25 co-chairs in Iowa alongside with former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack.  —  But Thomas now says he felt obliged to switch sides in recent weeks.

Huckabee Second in National GOP Race  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Mike Huckabee has vaulted from nowhere into second place in the Republican presidential race, riding a burst of support from evangelicals, Southerners and conservatives, a poll showed Friday.  —  The upsurge by the former Arkansas governor …

ABC Nabs Latest Media Player From Bush Team, Matthew Dowd  —  Matthew Dowd started out as a Democratic operative, then helped engineer George W. Bush's winning White House campaigns before growing disenchanted and publicly breaking with the president.  Now he's reinventing himself once again.

Candidate Ron Paul's devotees a mixed bag  —  WASHINGTON — If Ron Paul's supporters got together for a family portrait, it would be one of those pictures in which no one seems to resemble anyone else.  —  "You have old-school Republicans, the conservatives who backed Barry Goldwater (in 1964).

Solid Job Gains, Wage Growth in Nov.  —  Employers Boost Payrolls by 94,000; Jobless Rate Holds Steady at 4.7 Percent  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers added a solid 94,000 jobs to their payrolls in November, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent and wages grew briskly …

I HEARD NEAL BOORTZ holding forth on the Omaha mall shooting this morning on the way to work, and I realized I haven't posted on it.  I don't really have anything to say that I haven't said before.  But it's worth noting — since apparently most of the media reports haven't — that this was another mass shooting in a "gun-free" zone.