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Religion Dispatches - Religion Dispatches Religion Dispatches
  • Religious Liberty
    • Here’s What the Court Didn’t Decide in <em>Masterpiece</em>
      Here’s What the Court Didn’t Decide in Masterpiece
    • SCOTUS’s Incoherent <em>Masterpiece Cakeshop</em> Decision
      SCOTUS’s Incoherent Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision
    • SBC’s #MeToo Problem Isn’t a Rotten Apple, It’s a Rotten Theological Tree
      SBC’s #MeToo Problem Isn’t a Rotten Apple, It’s a Rotten Theological Tree
  • (A)theologies
    • SBC’s #MeToo Problem Isn’t a Rotten Apple, It’s a Rotten Theological Tree
      SBC’s #MeToo Problem Isn’t a Rotten Apple, It’s a Rotten Theological Tree
    • Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” Depicts Death Struggle Between Hope and Despair
      Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” Depicts Death Struggle Between Hope and Despair
    • How “Gratitude” Underwrites Inequality, Power and Exclusion
      How “Gratitude” Underwrites Inequality, Power and Exclusion
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • Earth to Planet Catholic: Francis Papacy is no Picnic
      Earth to Planet Catholic: Francis Papacy is no Picnic
    • No image
      Indiana Republicans Are Debating Gay Marriage… Amongst Themselves
    • Here’s What the Court Didn’t Decide in <em>Masterpiece</em>
      Here’s What the Court Didn’t Decide in Masterpiece
  • New Books
    • How “Gratitude” Underwrites Inequality, Power and Exclusion
      How “Gratitude” Underwrites Inequality, Power and Exclusion
    • Queer Nuns: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Are “Serious Parody,” Forcing us to Redefine Nuns
      Queer Nuns: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Are “Serious Parody,” Forcing us to Redefine Nuns
    • Fear, Nostalgia and Power Drove Evangelicals to Trump: Interview with Evangelical Scholar John Fea
      Fear, Nostalgia and Power Drove Evangelicals to Trump: Interview with Evangelical Scholar John Fea
  • OMFG
    • Earth to Planet Catholic: Francis Papacy is no Picnic
      Earth to Planet Catholic: Francis Papacy is no Picnic
    • No image
      Indiana Republicans Are Debating Gay Marriage… Amongst Themselves
    • No image
      Calling Trump’s Bee-Smitten Christians: You Think You Know What “Koinonia” Means?

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.

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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(A)theologies, Culture, Front PageMay 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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Front Page, 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, Beyond Belief: Election 2016, Front Page, 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, Culture, Front Page, 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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(A)theologies, Front Page, New Books, OMFG, Peter Laarman, Politics/LawMarch 7, 2018

A Locked and Loaded Covenant: The Religious Roots of America’s Gun Culture

By Peter Laarman

Garry Wills was being only slightly ironic when he wrote (in the wake of the…

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(A)theologies, Culture, Peter LaarmanFebruary 23, 2018

Billy Graham Was More Like White America’s Surrogate Savior Than “America’s Pastor”

By Peter Laarman

OK, I completely understand why the Graham family and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association would cotton…

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OMFG, Peter Laarman, Politics/Law, Sexuality/GenderJanuary 30, 2018

Hillary Clinton’s Disgraced “Faith Guru” is Out… Now How About the “Faith Operations” Industry?

By Peter Laarman

Burns Strider, Hillary Clinton’s disgraced former “faith guru”—accused of sexually harassing at least two young…

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(A)theologies, Front Page, Peter Laarman, Politics/Law, Sexuality/GenderDecember 26, 2017

The Year in Religion: A Ray of Hope Amid the Usual Fecklessness

By Peter Laarman

Taking my cue from the revised pater noster commended by His Holiness, I begin by…

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(A)theologies, Front PageDecember 3, 2017

For Unto (Some of) Us a Child is Born: Handel’s Messiah and the Voice of Empire Rising

By Peter Laarman

‘Tis the season for Christian supersessionism.

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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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