Not dead yet. Again.
It's true! World Net Daily said so.
Demagoguing a legal scholar in the name of "religious liberty."
A Great Gulf Fixed: Implications of the Vanishing Religious Middle
Results of a new poll show that in matters of religion the right and left are in different universes. Why, then, are progressives so insistent on finding common ground?
One reason we don't hear from "those who actually minister to real people with real problems" is that conservatives have successfully defined "people of faith" as abortion opponents
A new campaign from the religious right, “The Civility Project,” aims to solve difficult social issues with politeness. What’s the real agenda here?
RDRoundtable: Republican Scandals Drag Secretive “Family” Into the Big Time
Last week it was discovered that several powerful republicans at the heart of two sex scandals—Sens. John Ensign and Tom Coburn and Gov. Mark Sanford, among others—are members of The Family, reputed to be an “aggressively anti-democratic” Christian movement quietly steering us toward a “theocentric” state. Three scholars discuss The Family with the author. Sparks fly.
On Religion, Abortion, and Politics: Dr. George Tiller's Christian Ethics
A Lutheran pastor explains how the murdered abortion provider could have been a Christian in good standing with his church and faith community—and how the politics of abortion is tied to the history of racism.
Smashing Our Idols: A Response from Evangelical Leader David Gushee
After pursuing a dialogue with David Gushee, in response to a suggestion from a commenter on RD, I realize that Gushee's "welcoming" church model, though imperfect, is a sign of progress, not regress.
Sex Work: In Bed with the Religious Right
Is American sexual culture schizophrenic? Yes, and this has everything to do with the sexual politics of the religious right. Sexual opportunity is everywhere, but sexual rights have, at the same time, been concretely eroded.
Ignore the Rod: the Parental Rights Amendment Isn’t About Spanking
The United States is the only nation save Somalia that’s failed to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Armed with a doomsday ten-point plan including the end of spankings and the government preventing parents from bringing kids to church, the force behind the movement to prevent its ratification isn’t just a bunch of strict parents.
Much-Married Newt Gingrich Converts to Catholicism
Newt Gingrich may be a Catholic now, but he's still going for the jugular.
RDBook: Wifely Submission and Christian Warfare
A growing movement among conservative Christians exhorts women to give up the foolish notion of independence and subordinate themselves to their husbands. In this excerpt from Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, Kathryn Joyce connects the dots between cinnamon buns and submission.
Since when does only one group of believers get to use the word Christian to describe themselves?
By the Way: James Dobson Departs the Scene
As the old guard retires, a generational challenge emerges for the Christian Right. Who can lead a movement whose constituency no longer agrees with its core tenets?
The Birth of Un-Cool: How Disgusted Liberals Became Neoconservatives
In the same way that actual radicals were chic among left-leaning socialites in the late seventies, NASCAR and pork rinds were a mark of authenticity for conservatives throughout the Bush years. But now some Republicans are rethinking their down-market identities.
Rep. Sally Kern has discovered the secret Gay Agenda, she tells her compatriots at the John Birch Society.
Ideology is More Than Skin Deep: Why I Can’t Get Along To Go Along
The differences among religious folk in this country—once these issues make their way into politics—manifest in real divisions of money and power and security. To think that these conflicts can be resolved with mild-mannered compromises between Third Way and centrist evangelicals underestimates their importance.
But what about feeding the hungry or housing the homeless? Not on the agenda.
Op-Ed: “Religion As A Wedge”: The Rick Warren Debacle
With the choice of Rev. Warren to make the inaugural invocation, the president elect has proven himself tone deaf to the nuances of American religious life.
Rick Warren’s Biblical Blowback
The proper role of government is to punish evildoers, Pastor Rick Warren tells Sean Hannity. If the Rev’s read is to be believed, the United States is in deep trouble.
Even After an Obama Victory Reports of the Death of the Religious Right are Greatly Exaggerated
While it won't be the same as it ever was, an Obama presidency will give the Religious Right an opportunity to bask in the glow of martyrdom and seize the mantle of underdog, while it raises hundreds of millions of dollars for its political campaigns and the never-ending ‘culture wars.’
In the sensational coverage of Sarah Palin's witch-defeating pastor many missed a crucial question for the potential leader of 300 million Americans.
Cizik sizes up McCain; It’s Planned Parenthood, stupid!; Greening evangelicals; AFA voting guide; Prop. 8 updates
While biblical opposition to gay civil rights echoes the opposition to ending slavery, that institution didn't end with the triumph of the abolitionist biblical view.