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Pricey Tickets, Cranky Citizens, and Priests Behind Bars as Philadelphia Prepares For Papal Visit

By Anthea Butler

…to continue to shrink into the insularity and disorganization that caused the Philadelphia Archdiocese to decline so precipitously? It remains to be seen. Meanwhile, faithful Catholics and others who want to see the Pope may be losing heart. 10,000 tickets for the Pope’s Speech at Independence Mall sold out in two minutes on Tuesday, with 394k people trying their best to get a few. Tickets are already being scalped at $100 and up on craigslist. I…

Does the Historical Jesus Matter?

By Peter Laarman

…quite willing to consult the mirror and to see that we who imagine ourselves to be progressive Christians might well reflect on our own degree of infection with Empire God ideas, as against the “God’s reign is within you!” idea that Jesus preached and demonstrated. Self-awareness and serious repentance don’t need to be disempowering; quite the opposite. If you wish, you can say that I’m just excessively enchanted by Dom Crossan’s ready wit and hi…

Conservative Rep Grills Oklahoma Personhood Sponsors

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…dibly depressing details of the committee’s discussion. As the Tulsa World reports: Its House sponsor, Rep. Lisa Billy, said SB 1443 is simply a “statement of purpose” that recognizes what she called “the irrefutable scientific fact that life begins at conception.” Billy assured the committee that in its current version the bill would not change existing abortion law or interfere with medical research, in vitro fertilization or any other medical o…

Mile-High Identity Politics: What We Can Learn From the Same-Sex Seating Controversy

By Eboo Patel

…to religion and exercised by the Orthodox men in this situation. Here is a representative sample: ‘Why is sexism okay because of tradition?’ ‘This is the United States in 2015, not the fourth century … You’re not free to practice your religion in my airline seat.’ ‘This is male entitlement .. the height of male arrogance.’ One comment referred to this as a ‘back of the bus’ issue; as in, women being asked to move in such circumstances was tantamou…

The Key to Understanding the Federalist Society Isn’t Originalism — It’s This 800-Year Old Tradition

By Peter Schwartz

…s rubric of rights and wrongs and moral absolutes on matters of sexuality, reproduction, marriage, the family, education, and religious freedom—has exercised enormous influence upon the membership of the Federalist Society. The three most right-wing justices on the Supreme Court—Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito—are adherents of natural law moral philosophy. During his Senate confirmation hearings in 1991, Clarence Thomas weathered c…

State Director of Christian Right Legislative Group, ‘Project Blitz,’ Calls for Lynching of Rep. Ilhan Omar (Updated)

By Frederick Clarkson

…hich makes it all the more remarkable that they would join this rhetorical Republican lynch mob. According to Wikipedia, “Two Republican candidates for congressional office have called for her to be executed.[173] In November 2019, Danielle Stella, Omar’s Republican opponent for Congress, was banned from Twitter for suggesting that Omar be hanged for treason.[168] In December 2019, George Buck, another Republican running for Congress, also suggest…

Atheist Nazis? The Pope’s Cheap Atonement

By Susannah Heschel

Adam Clayton Powell called it “cheap grace,” but we might call it “cheap atonement”: the effort by sinners to select which sins to acknowledge and repent. Pope Benedict XVI ended his heavily protested visit to England with a heartfelt apology for German bombings of England during the Battle of Britain; though he refused to accept Christian responsibility for the Holocaust, blaming it instead on pagans and atheists. Given that Cardinal Walter Kasp…

Glenn Beck’s Cheap Grace

By Karyn Carlo

…Glenn Beck and others who make it easy to turn away from the hard work of repentance, who tickle our ears with promises of cheap grace, and offer a vision of the cross of Jesus that has nothing to say to the crosses, and lynching trees, of history. But, if we do, we will be settling for the gospel of Caesar, not the good news of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is time to put down the chalk, stop drawing pyrotechnical conspiracy theories that play into o…

Rep. Cleaver’s ‘Awoman’ Prayer Enrages Christian Nationalists Who Taste Their Own Medicine and Still Miss the Point

By Andrew L. Seidel

…and it always will be, no matter how good one’s religious intentions are. Rep. Cleaver intended to be inclusive with this prayer, but he did just what his name suggests, just what the Founders feared, and just what our Constitution is meant to prevent—he divided the country along religious lines. Prayer at legislative sessions, which could easily be done by the truly pious legislators without a government microphone and resources, divides, cleave…

An Interview with Rep. Jamie Raskin on the Feminist and Abolitionist Founder Who Has Slipped into a Memory Hole

By Andrew L. Seidel

…askin (D-MD), one of Paine’s biggest fans. At the Summit for Religious Freedom in DC on April 15, Rep. Raskin signed books and delivered a rousing speech on threats to the separation of church and state and our democracy. He quoted Paine, after noting that he was an early “feminist … suffragist … and abolitionist.” In our interview, Rep. Raskin talked about how influential Paine has been on his life and career, “I’ve just always loved Tom Paine. I…