University of Southern California
USC Annenberg
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Contact
  • FAQ
Religion Dispatches - Religion Dispatches Religion Dispatches
  • Racial Justice
    • Dear Amazon Prime, I’m Not a Racist, But Why Are You Destroying My Precious Middle-Earth With Black Hobbits?
      Dear Amazon Prime, I’m Not a Racist, But Why Are You Destroying My Precious Middle-Earth With Black Hobbits?
    • The Failure to Focus on — And Yes, to ‘Cancel’ — Right Wing Antisemitism is a Problem
      The Failure to Focus on — And Yes, to ‘Cancel’ — Right Wing Antisemitism is a Problem
    • Evangelicals Clutch Their Pearls Over Student Debt Relief: Lord Have Mercy!
      Evangelicals Clutch Their Pearls Over Student Debt Relief: Lord Have Mercy!
  • Politics/Law
    • Inspired by the Anti-Abortion Movement and QAnon, Anti-Trans Rhetoric is a Blatant Call for Violence
      Inspired by the Anti-Abortion Movement and QAnon, Anti-Trans Rhetoric is a Blatant Call for Violence
    • After <em>Roe</em>: 3 Troubling Trends from the ‘Compassionate’ Anti-Abortion Crowd
      After Roe: 3 Troubling Trends from the ‘Compassionate’ Anti-Abortion Crowd
    • Critics of Hasidic Schools Exposé Missed the Point: It Wasn’t Antisemitic or the Product of Secular Bias — It’s a Story of Corruption
      Critics of Hasidic Schools Exposé Missed the Point: It Wasn’t Antisemitic or the Product of Secular Bias — It’s a Story of Corruption
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • Inspired by the Anti-Abortion Movement and QAnon, Anti-Trans Rhetoric is a Blatant Call for Violence
      Inspired by the Anti-Abortion Movement and QAnon, Anti-Trans Rhetoric is a Blatant Call for Violence
    • After <em>Roe</em>: 3 Troubling Trends from the ‘Compassionate’ Anti-Abortion Crowd
      After Roe: 3 Troubling Trends from the ‘Compassionate’ Anti-Abortion Crowd
    • DeSantis is a No-Show, the Right’s ‘Secret Sauce,’ and Final Thoughts on Pray Vote Stand
      DeSantis is a No-Show, the Right’s ‘Secret Sauce,’ and Final Thoughts on Pray Vote Stand
  • Christian Nationalism
    • Inspired by the Anti-Abortion Movement and QAnon, Anti-Trans Rhetoric is a Blatant Call for Violence
      Inspired by the Anti-Abortion Movement and QAnon, Anti-Trans Rhetoric is a Blatant Call for Violence
    • Special Coverage: Dispatches From Pray Vote Stand 2022
      Special Coverage: Dispatches From Pray Vote Stand 2022
    • In Sermon on Birth of the ‘Fatherland,’ Putin’s Patriarch Kirill Equates Invasion of Ukraine with Defense of Orthodox Faith
      In Sermon on Birth of the ‘Fatherland,’ Putin’s Patriarch Kirill Equates Invasion of Ukraine with Defense of Orthodox Faith
  • Russia Invades Ukraine
    • In Sermon on Birth of the ‘Fatherland,’ Putin’s Patriarch Kirill Equates Invasion of Ukraine with Defense of Orthodox Faith
      In Sermon on Birth of the ‘Fatherland,’ Putin’s Patriarch Kirill Equates Invasion of Ukraine with Defense of Orthodox Faith
    • Unprecedented Anti-LGBTQ Statement By Orthodox Church in America Should Be Christian Nationalist Warning Sign to US Orthodoxy
      Unprecedented Anti-LGBTQ Statement By Orthodox Church in America Should Be Christian Nationalist Warning Sign to US Orthodoxy
    • 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

Peter Laarman

Peter Laarman is a United Church of Christ minister who served as senior minister of New York's Judson Memorial Church and then as executive director of LA's Progressive Christians Uniting before retiring in 2014. He remains deeply involved in national and regional social justice projects touching on race, class, and religion.

(A)theologies, Archive, Media Analysis, Politics/Law, Racial JusticeSeptember 1, 2022

Evangelicals Clutch Their Pearls Over Student Debt Relief: Lord Have Mercy!

By Peter Laarman

What with Ukraine, Mar-a-Lago, Jerome Powell, and what-not, I suppose we can be forgiven (ha!)…

Read More
Archive, Books, Christian Nationalism, New Books, OMFG, Politics/Law, Racial JusticeAugust 3, 2022

Breaking Up With Marilynne Robinson Over Her Refusal to Acknowledge the Dark Side of Puritanism

By Peter Laarman

Breaking up is hard to do, and I am not at all prepared to discard…

Read More
Archive, Racial Justice, Religious Liberty, Sex/Gender/JusticeMay 9, 2022

The End of Roe May Have Something Important to Tell Us About the Decline of Mainline Protestant Churches

By Peter Laarman

As we gnaw on the paws of our grief and foreboding regarding the Supreme Court…

Read More
Archive, Christian Nationalism, Media Analysis, OMFG, Racial JusticeApril 12, 2022

Douthat, Do Tell! Some Questions for a Columnist Longing for the Good Old Days of American Religion

By Peter Laarman

Sometimes it’s as necessary as a bowel movement to point out how some very smart…

Read More
Archive, OMFG, Racial JusticeApril 4, 2022

Honoring and Renewing Dr. King’s Other, More Challenging, Dream — 55 Years Later

By Peter Laarman

Fifty-four years ago—on April 4, 1968—Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Exactly one…

Read More
Archive, Books, Christian Nationalism, Media Analysis, New Books, OMFG, Racial JusticeFebruary 10, 2022

The Missing Element in the Conversation on Christian Nationalism and Freedom: Whiteness

By Peter Laarman

A new report released Wednesday by a trio of groups, both Christian and secular, on…

Read More
(A)theologies, Archive, OMFGJanuary 28, 2022

Response: Is Proselytizing Offensive? Sure. But I Won’t Give Them the Satisfaction of Martyrdom

By Peter Laarman

My colleague Chrissy Stroop’s powerful excoriation of evangelical Christian proselytizing pushed the predictable buttons among…

Read More
(A)theologies, Archive, OMFG, Politics/LawDecember 28, 2021

Will Religion Finally Give Peace a Chance? Rising to the Challenge of Nonviolence as Armageddon Looms

By Peter Laarman

So here we are, some of us, still calling out “peace on earth, goodwill to…

Read More
Archive, Books, Christian Nationalism, New Books, OMFGOctober 14, 2021

A New Book By Esteemed Sociologist Robert Wuthnow Struggles to Show ‘Why Religion is Good for American Democracy’

By Peter Laarman

At a time when Christian Nationalism is finally being recognized as a threat to democracy,…

Read More
Archive, Politics/Law, Racial JusticeJuly 20, 2021

How Far Will White Christians Go to Maintain Power? An Interview with Robert Jones

By Peter Laarman

Robert P. Jones is CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and…

Read More
1 2 … 24 Next

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.

© Religion Dispatches
Back to top