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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
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Patrick Hornbeck

Patrick Hornbeck is chair and associate professor of theology at Fordham University, where he teaches and writes about the history of Christianity, contemporary U.S. Catholicism, and LGBTQ concerns in religion. He is the author or editor of eight books, including the two-volume collection More Than a Monologue: Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church (Fordham University Press, 2014). He received his graduate degrees from the University of Oxford and graduated as valedictorian from Georgetown University.

Archive, Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Sex/Gender/Justice, Sexuality/GenderOctober 24, 2019

Catholic Anti-Nuke Activists Looking at 20 Years in Prison a True Test for Religious Freedom

By Patrick Hornbeck

Either sincere religious conviction should be a defense, or it shouldn’t. There should be a healthy debate about religious exemptions in a pluralistic society, but not about the content of the religious conviction concerned.

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Archive, Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Sex/Gender/JusticeOctober 11, 2019

In Latest Round of LGBTQ Discrimination Cases Before SCOTUS, Religion Is ‘The Elephant in the Room’

By Patrick Hornbeck

There’s much to say about this week’s arguments, including the question of whether the employers were arguing, in effect, that it is acceptable to discriminate against LGBTQ people so long as they discriminate against all LGBTQ people.

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Christian Nationalism, History/Theology, Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Sex/Gender/JusticeJanuary 3, 2019

Religious Freedom Battle Is Far From Over: Here’s What to Look for in 2019

By Patrick Hornbeck

While the issues are piling up, the Supreme Court—and U.S. society more broadly—will have to face the questions ducked in Masterpiece Cakeshop, or else be willing to settle for a level of uncertainty that serves no one.

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OMFG, Politics/LawJune 13, 2018

SCOTUS Refusal Again Favors Religious Claims… But This Time in Liberals’ Favor

By Patrick Hornbeck

An anti-gay breakaway group has to return a half a billion dollars worth of property to the Episcopal Church.

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Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Sex/Gender/JusticeJune 6, 2018

Here’s What the Court Didn’t Decide in ‘Masterpiece Cakeshop’

By Patrick Hornbeck

The Court may not have explicitly rejected Phillips’s free speech claims, but the fact that seven of nine justices chose not to follow Phillips and his attorneys in their primary reasoning, even while ruling in their favor, is noteworthy.

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Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Sexuality/GenderJune 5, 2018

Here’s What the Court Didn’t Decide in Masterpiece

By Patrick Hornbeck

By now we’ve all learned that the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Masterpiece Cakeshop case in…

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Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Sex/Gender/JusticeMay 16, 2018

We Regret to Inform You That You Do Not Mirror the Holy Family

By Patrick Hornbeck

Catholic Charities might rather go out of business than allow same-sex couples to adopt a child.

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Archive, Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Sexuality/GenderApril 24, 2018

Gaining Except-ance: Army Chaplain Who Says “I Don’t” to Same-Sex Wedding Should Not Be Reprimanded

By Patrick Hornbeck

In 2013, as the U.S. Supreme Court was deciding U.S. v. Windsor, the case that…

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Archive, Religious Liberty, Sexuality/GenderMarch 26, 2018

The Tragedy of Religious Freedom

By Patrick Hornbeck

There has been a lot of talk lately about religious exemptions—legal arrangements that excuse individuals…

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Archive, Religious Liberty, Sexuality/GenderFebruary 26, 2018

We Regret to Inform You That You Do Not Mirror the Holy Family

By Patrick Hornbeck

Imagine a congregation—maybe even a whole denomination—that’s raising money from its members in order to…

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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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