Featured

Smoking is popular in the Czech Republic. When the Czech government considered raising the tax on those cigarettes — the very ones that kill thousands of people each year — major cigarette corporation Philip Morris was very unhappy. Philip Morris presented a cost-benefit analysis on the effects of raising the tax on the national budget.

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it,” reads Hebrews 13:2. “I have always loved this,” E.J. Dionne said.

When internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter Natalie Merchant comes to Chautauqua, it will be a homecoming of sorts. Merchant is a native of nearby Jamestown, N.Y. Her earliest venture into the musical world was with the band 10,000 Maniacs, the members of which also hailed from Jamestown. Merchant told NPR host Scott Simon that some of her prominent memories of Jamestown are the times she snuck into local bars when she was 16 years old to play shows.

Theodore Olson, former U.S. solicitor general, answered questions from John Q. Barrett, professor of law at St. John’s University and frequent Chautauqua speaker, on stage Thursday. Olson addressed a variety of topics, including his personal experiences with the Supreme Court, the 9/11 attacks and California’s Proposition 8.

Guest conductor Robert Moody and pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk have never met, but they have a common goal: They want everyone in the Amphitheater to experience a shared musical journey. Moody, Gavrylyuk and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra perform at 8:15 p.m. tonight. “We’re in on it together,” Moody said. “We are not performing for you; we are joining in on a journey with you in the audience.”

David Gergen, Wednesday’s morning lecturer, told a short story about Benjamin Franklin to illustrate his point that it’s up to Americans to decide the future. As Franklin was leaving Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, a woman approached him. She pointed to a chair, which was painted with a half-sun on the horizon.

The Rev. Katharine Rhodes Henderson said she considers “troublemaker” and “activist” to be honorific titles, so it only made sense that her lecture was titled “Trouble the Waters, Heal the World.” Henderson is the president of Auburn Theological Seminary and the author of God’s Troublemakers: How Women of Faith Are Changing the World.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori shared some of her faith journey at the 5 p.m. Vespers Service Sunday. Ruth Becker, registrar at the United Church of Christ denominational houses, served as liturgist, and Janet Miller provided accompaniment on the piano. Born in Pensacola, Fla., while her father was in the Navy, Jefferts Schori grew up outside of Seattle until she was 9 years old.

Bill Purcell remembers the first debate he experienced in 1986 as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. “Mr. Speaker, I rise to observe that the snack bar, which has for so long stood in the area outside this great chamber, has been removed, and I now call upon you, sir, to explain, ‘Where is our snack bar?’” a senior member of the legislature said as he stood.

SLIDESHOW: Scenes from around Chautauqua Institution on Independence Day 2011

“We Americans have trouble with religion,” said James Carroll. “Many Americans think, for example, that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.” But that’s only the beginning.

Bol Malual remembers dodging crocodiles when he was a child. The water-dwelling predators were just one of the threats he faced on his journey as one of the thousands of Lost Boys of Sudan.