Updated with Response: The Black Church is Dead—Long Live the Black Church
What is the black church and what does it mean to say that the black church is dead? A provocative assertion and prophetic challenge by a prominent interpreter of African-American religion occasions a lively and varied set of responses. Updated with a response to those responses by Eddie Glaude, Jr., whose article sparked the discussion.
Christian Imperialism in Haiti? Missionaries, Theo-tourism, and the Invasion of the Global South
The disaster in Haiti has brought attention to the ways that aid and ignorance sometimes come as a package.
A California court upholds summary judgement in ACSI v. Stearns, rules that the University did not discriminate unfairly when denying credit to students for particular high school courses.
GMO or No: Problematic Intersections of Religion, Biotechnology, and Food
Can a genetically altered hot dog be kosher? Can a vegetarian eat a tomato that has animal DNA in it? Is modified corn just another instance of colonialism? These and other questions are broached in a new anthology, sure to make excellent Thanksgiving dinner conversation.
In a state where it's almost required to have a Christian-themed bumper sticker the legislature approved an "I believe" vanity plate. A federal judge has just deemed it unconstitutional.
Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World: An Excerpt
Finally, something Christians, Jews, and Muslims can agree on: Apocalypse. But as the theological end-time visions of the three Abrahamic faiths converge, it is not the wrath of heaven that threatens life on Earth, but all-too-human fundamentalism and fearmongering.
Transgender and Christian: Finding Identity
The idea of transgender Christianity shocks people on both sides of the divide: conservative religious reject any kind of gender variance and the LGBT community can be suspicious of organized religion. In all of this, trans-Christians are forging a new spirituality.
The Unbelieving Future of Christian Faith
Adherence to doctrine has long been a marker of faith among Christians. But what do the creeds and fine distinctions of theological argument have to do with commitment to justice?
Israeli Jesus: More Popular Than Ever
The staging in Jaffa of a controversial play with Jesus as central character is shut down by protests—but not for the reasons one might imagine.
When Religion Goes Missing in the Modern Museum
The brand-new Acropolis Museum, designed to showcase the repatriated plunder of another century, has instead a few other things to offer—among them, views of other museum-goers from beneath, as well as a newly censored video showing Greek Christians hard at work destroying Classical art.
In another stunner from the right wing, a best-selling conservative author discovers that gays can be Christians too.
RDPulpit: Dry Bones & Oil Spills: the Dangerous Memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa
Shell Oil is being called to answer for the pollution of the Niger river and for the death of activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. A seminarian calls for action.
St. Paul the Pacifist: A Christian Response to Torture
In light of a recent finding that evangelical Christians are more likely, statistically, to support the use of torture, a scholar proposes an approach to nonviolence based on the teaching of Christianity’s first theologian.
Will the Real Progressive Christians Please Stand Up?
A walk through recent Christian history—from the rise of evangelicalism, through neo-Orthodoxy, and on to Liberation theology—reveals the roots of the current debate among those who identify as progressives.
Op-Ed: The Real Muslims?
We all know by now that there are some who would like to claim the term “Christian” for their own particular brand of belief. Is there an analogy to this in the contemporary North American Muslim community?
Since when does only one group of believers get to use the word Christian to describe themselves?
V-Day: An Arrow in the Heart
The original St. Valentinus (one of at least seven with the same name, so we can’t be too sure!) was arrested for marrying Roman Christian couples. His bloody martyrdom was particularly brutal. Love and loss, romance and violence. They’ve always gone together.
King as Inspiration, Not Guide
On the 40th anniversary of his assassination, we honor Martin Luther King by refusing to ask: “What would King think?”
Getting Wright Wrong: Preaching is Not Policy
Anyone who thinks that full agreement with your pastor is necessary has never been to church...
Damning America: Right and Left
Reverend Wright’s condemnation of the United States made waves, but right-wing preachers have been railing against America’s sins for years.
Op-Ed: Rev. Wright and the Church-State Divide
Agonized analyses about the proper relation between church and state too often miss the point.
Overtly Christian displays are fine but respect is a two-way street...