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Religion Dispatches - Religion Dispatches Religion Dispatches
  • Racial Justice
    • Racialization Meets Purity Culture: Abortion Criminalization Cases Confirm That It’s Always Been About Controlling Women’s Bodies And Protecting the ‘Ideal’ American Family
      Racialization Meets Purity Culture: Abortion Criminalization Cases Confirm That It’s Always Been About Controlling Women’s Bodies And Protecting the ‘Ideal’ American Family
    • Embryo Men — Decades of Conspiracy, Christian Nationalism, and Fear Led Us to The End of <em>Roe v. Wade</em>
      Embryo Men — Decades of Conspiracy, Christian Nationalism, and Fear Led Us to The End of Roe v. Wade
    • Has American Conservatism Abandoned the Christian Right?
      Has American Conservatism Abandoned the Christian Right?
  • Politics/Law
    • Progressive Christians: Don’t Look to the Bible For Abortion Rights Arguments — Women’s Autonomy is Not a Biblical Value
      Progressive Christians: Don’t Look to the Bible For Abortion Rights Arguments — Women’s Autonomy is Not a Biblical Value
    • Americans Must Stop Thinking of the United States Supreme Court as a Court of Law
      Americans Must Stop Thinking of the United States Supreme Court as a Court of Law
    • As Problems for Pregnant People Increase, Catholic Bishops Claim They’re Heroes For Ending Abortion Rights
      As Problems for Pregnant People Increase, Catholic Bishops Claim They’re Heroes For Ending Abortion Rights
  • The End of Roe
    • What Role do Feelings Play in Conspiracy, Racism and Climate Denial? Welcome to <em>Phoning It In</em>, Episode 1
      What Role do Feelings Play in Conspiracy, Racism and Climate Denial? Welcome to Phoning It In, Episode 1
    • Episcopal Church Assault Data Reveals the Dark Side of Inclusive Christianity
      Episcopal Church Assault Data Reveals the Dark Side of Inclusive Christianity
    • Progressive Christians: Don’t Look to the Bible For Abortion Rights Arguments — Women’s Autonomy is Not a Biblical Value
      Progressive Christians: Don’t Look to the Bible For Abortion Rights Arguments — Women’s Autonomy is Not a Biblical Value
  • Christian Nationalism
    • Progressive Christians: Don’t Look to the Bible For Abortion Rights Arguments — Women’s Autonomy is Not a Biblical Value
      Progressive Christians: Don’t Look to the Bible For Abortion Rights Arguments — Women’s Autonomy is Not a Biblical Value
    • Americans Must Stop Thinking of the United States Supreme Court as a Court of Law
      Americans Must Stop Thinking of the United States Supreme Court as a Court of Law
    • Racialization Meets Purity Culture: Abortion Criminalization Cases Confirm That It’s Always Been About Controlling Women’s Bodies And Protecting the ‘Ideal’ American Family
      Racialization Meets Purity Culture: Abortion Criminalization Cases Confirm That It’s Always Been About Controlling Women’s Bodies And Protecting the ‘Ideal’ American Family
  • Russia Invades Ukraine
    • With This Largely Overlooked Shakeup is the Russian Orthodox Church Looking to Westernize? Yes and No
      With This Largely Overlooked Shakeup is the Russian Orthodox Church Looking to Westernize? Yes and No
    • Moscow Suffers its Most High Profile Defection Yet
      Moscow Suffers its Most High Profile Defection Yet
    • Putin Theo-Propaganda Minister Kirill Invokes 600 Years of History to Lay Claim to Ukraine — Here’s What it Means
      Putin Theo-Propaganda Minister Kirill Invokes 600 Years of History to Lay Claim to Ukraine — Here’s What it Means
mrecla@umail.ucsb.edu'

Matt Recla

Matt Recla is an instructor in the Foundational Studies Program at Boise State University. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He researches the genealogy of violence in the Christian tradition.

Guest BloggersApril 25, 2013

Religion and Violence? Short Answer: “Religion” Does Not Exist in a Vacuum

By Matt Recla

It is patronizing to reduce religion to “ethics” or “values.”

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(A)theologies, Culture, Politics/LawJanuary 17, 2010

‘Biblical’ Disaster in Haiti: Pat Robertson and the Curse of Unyielding Ignorance

By Matt Recla

As people around the world begin to reckon with the scope of the catastrophe in Haiti, we offer a set of responses to what was—for those whose work focuses on American religion—a shameful expression of prejudice and ignorance from a once-prominent evangelical leader. 

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(A)theologies, Politics/LawJanuary 15, 2010

The Theo-logic Behind Pat Robertson’s Offense

By Matt Recla

Once again, Pat Robertson has embarrassed the larger Christian community with his comments on Haiti, but the idea of God as a judge is deeply rooted in American religion.

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Religion Dispatches

Religion Dispatches

Religion Dispatches is your independent, non-profit, award-winning source for the best writing on critical and timely issues at the intersection of religion, politics, and culture.

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