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  • Election 2024
    • Even if Voters ‘Get What They Asked For’ it’s More Likely to Cause a Fascist Death Spiral Than a Lesson Learned
      Even if Voters ‘Get What They Asked For’ it’s More Likely to Cause a Fascist Death Spiral Than a Lesson Learned
    • Loyalty and Chaos Play a Role in Trump’s Nominations, But This Schoolyard Tactic May Provide a Better Explanation
      Loyalty and Chaos Play a Role in Trump’s Nominations, But This Schoolyard Tactic May Provide a Better Explanation
    • Progressive Christian Election Response ‘Give us Barabbas’ May Be Well-Meaning — But Functions as Anti-Jewish Dogwhistle
      Progressive Christian Election Response ‘Give us Barabbas’ May Be Well-Meaning — But Functions as Anti-Jewish Dogwhistle
  • Racial Justice
    • Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
      Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
    • No image
      With no Viable Alternative on Ballot, Anti-immigrant Movement Claims Victory and Releases Wish Lists
    • New Doc Claiming Columbus was Jewish May Have Some Accuracy Issues — But There’s a Far Bigger Issue We Need to Reckon With
      New Doc Claiming Columbus was Jewish May Have Some Accuracy Issues — But There’s a Far Bigger Issue We Need to Reckon With
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • With Election Takeaways Like ‘Too Transgender’ or ‘the US is Shifting Right,’ Dems are Determined to Learn the Wrong Lesson
      With Election Takeaways Like ‘Too Transgender’ or ‘the US is Shifting Right,’ Dems are Determined to Learn the Wrong Lesson
    • Packed with Threats of Political Violence, Media Largely Ignore the NAR’s ‘Million Women’ Rally in DC
      Packed with Threats of Political Violence, Media Largely Ignore the NAR’s ‘Million Women’ Rally in DC
    • New Doc Strives for Christian Unity—But What if Unity is the Problem?
      New Doc Strives for Christian Unity—But What if Unity is the Problem?
  • Christian Nationalism
    • Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
      Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
    • Trump’s Fervent Christian Zionists Poised to Lead the Military — And US-Israel Relations
      Trump’s Fervent Christian Zionists Poised to Lead the Military — And US-Israel Relations
    • Meet Pete Hegseth, the Man Who Will Lead the Entire US Military — A Man Deemed an ‘Extremist’ by the US Military
      Meet Pete Hegseth, the Man Who Will Lead the Entire US Military — A Man Deemed an ‘Extremist’ by the US Military
  • The Ashes Initiative

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, History/TheologySeptember 24, 2018

Old Testament ‘Bad,’ New Testament ‘Good’: A Dangerous (and Mistaken) Assumption

By Peter Laarman

Oops, we just threw the Jewish tradition under the bus again. So sorry. We didn’t mean it. Really.

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Christian Nationalism, OMFGJuly 10, 2018

Kavanaugh, Yawn: Where’s Our Thirty-Year Plan?

By Peter Laarman

When will we unite the fragments of important and useful single-issue activism under a shared understanding that we need to slay the dragon of finance capitalism joined to white supremacy?

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OMFGJune 15, 2018

Three Questions for Jeff Sessions

By Peter Laarman

It’s never been truer that even the Devil can quote Scripture for his own purposes.

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Beyond Belief: Election 2016, Culture, OMFG, Politics/LawJune 4, 2018

Calling Trump’s Bee-Smitten Christians: You Think You Know What “Koinonia” Means?

By Peter Laarman

Let’s have the required etymological look at the winning word and get it over with:…

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Culture, History/TheologyMay 31, 2018

Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” Depicts Death Struggle Between Hope and Despair

By Peter Laarman

A younger Paul Schrader might have chosen to end this film, which many critics are calling his masterpiece, in apocalyptic violence. But I don’t think it’s quite right to conclude that Schrader has simply mellowed in his eighth decade.

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(A)theologies, Archive, CultureMay 31, 2018

Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” Depicts Death Struggle Between Hope and Despair

By Peter Laarman

Warning: numerous spoilers ahead.  “Who will release me from the body of this death?” This…

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UncategorizedMay 3, 2018

Update #2: No Safe Place For Truthtellers: A Larger Frame For the House Chaplain Brouhaha

By Peter Laarman

Pundits that play the story as merely another “unforced error” on Ryan’s part miss this crucial point about the containable rage of the exposed despoilers toward someone who is, by all accounts, a mild-mannered and well-regarded figure.

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Archive, Politics/LawMay 3, 2018

Update #2: No Safe Place for Truthtellers: A Larger Frame for the House Chaplain Brouhaha

By Peter Laarman

Update: Politico reports that Chaplain Patrick Conroy has rescinded his resignation and will remain House…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Beyond Belief: Election 2016, Politics/LawApril 24, 2018

No Time for Casual Faith: The First Unitarian Woman Elected President on our Urgent Moment

By Peter Laarman

As an activist local minister in Phoenix, Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray was deeply immersed in fighting…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Culture, Peter Laarman, Sexuality/GenderApril 17, 2018

Netflix’s Carlton Pearson Biopic, “Come Sunday,” Reveals Christianity’s Struggle for its Soul

By Peter Laarman

What’s the message, Bishop? That question, asked by the church’s closeted gay music director, Reggie…

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