Religion Dispatches
British comedy writer and celebrity journalist Jane Bussmann had a revelation while interviewing actor Ashton Kutcher at a Hollywood café: She really had to find something more meaningful to do.
So she embarked on a Google quest for the most evil man in the world and found Joseph…
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UCC minister Chuck Currie is campaigning for a seat on a $1 billion legislative body in Portland, Oregon. In this interview with the man whose candidacy may inform our thinking about the role of religious progressives for years to come, the pioneering blogger takes on church/state issues point blank.
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A veteran analyst of right-wing militancy notices a creeping maturity in the media’s ability to talk about the religious elements of terrorism—even when it’s Christian.
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The principle of the Hyde Amendment, which restricted federal funds from paying for abortion, is now seen as an acceptable, “abortion-neutral” position for the pro-choice party. How did the most significant anti-abortion legislation in history become a moderate compromise?
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President Obama averages 30 death threats per day, preachers pray publicly for his death, and right-wing pundits speak openly of military coups. Dave Neiwert, author of The Eliminationists, gives some insight into the relationship between extreme rhetoric and acts of violence.
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When an Arizona man brought guns to an Obama speech the story went unnoticed by a media prone to seeing such people as lone nuts. A look at the sermons of his virulently anti-gay pastor who’s been praying for Obama’s death, however, reveals similarities to a far right theology associated with militias, radical prolifers, and proponents of theocracy.
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A new book by veteran organizer Marshall Ganz tells the sometimes triumphant, sometimes cautionary tale of the rise and fall of Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement. While the story of the movement’s successes is well known, the reasons for its decline are more mysterious—until now.
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Mark Silk’s recent analysis of the rift between the “prophets” and the “priests” of the left hinges on the assumption that reaching out to centrist evangelicals will help Democrats. But will it?
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What could James Dobson’s Focus on the Family and the League of Women Voters possibly have in common? They’re both members of a coalition to raise awareness of the devastating effects of, and to block, state-sponsored casino gambling in Massachusetts.
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At a time when spokesmen for the church were asserting that Adolf Hitler’s rise to power was a ‘gift of God,’ a courageous woman tried to get her fellow Christians to act to save the Jews. A new film, Elisabeth of Berlin, tells her story through the voices of church leaders, historians, and those who knew her.
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