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Religion Dispatches - Religion Dispatches Religion Dispatches
  • Israel’s War on Gaza
    • War Criminal Henry Kissinger, First Jewish Secretary of State, Had a Lengthy History of Antisemitism
      War Criminal Henry Kissinger, First Jewish Secretary of State, Had a Lengthy History of Antisemitism
    • Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine
      Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine
    • Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
      Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
  • Racial Justice
    • War Criminal Henry Kissinger, First Jewish Secretary of State, Had a Lengthy History of Antisemitism
      War Criminal Henry Kissinger, First Jewish Secretary of State, Had a Lengthy History of Antisemitism
    • Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine
      Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine
    • Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
      Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
  • Politics/Law
    • The American Right Hasn’t Adopted Children’s Rights — They’ve Redefined and Weaponized Them
      The American Right Hasn’t Adopted Children’s Rights — They’ve Redefined and Weaponized Them
    • Hail Santa! War-on-Christmas Outrage Over Satanic Tree Reveals the Self-Serving Ambiguity of ‘Religion’
      Hail Santa! War-on-Christmas Outrage Over Satanic Tree Reveals the Self-Serving Ambiguity of ‘Religion’
    • War Criminal Henry Kissinger, First Jewish Secretary of State, Had a Lengthy History of Antisemitism
      War Criminal Henry Kissinger, First Jewish Secretary of State, Had a Lengthy History of Antisemitism
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • The American Right Hasn’t Adopted Children’s Rights — They’ve Redefined and Weaponized Them
      The American Right Hasn’t Adopted Children’s Rights — They’ve Redefined and Weaponized Them
    • Documenting the Struggle and Suicide of a Young Woman, ‘Dear Alana’ Podcast Raises Questions About Queer Identity and the Catholic Church
      Documenting the Struggle and Suicide of a Young Woman, ‘Dear Alana’ Podcast Raises Questions About Queer Identity and the Catholic Church
    • Mike Johnson’s Porn-Monitoring isn’t Just ‘Creepy’ — it’s a Window to the Fascist Desire Driving the White Evangelical Will to Power
      Mike Johnson’s Porn-Monitoring isn’t Just ‘Creepy’ — it’s a Window to the Fascist Desire Driving the White Evangelical Will to Power
  • Christian Nationalism
    • Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
      Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
    • With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory
      With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory
    • Mike Johnson’s Porn-Monitoring isn’t Just ‘Creepy’ — it’s a Window to the Fascist Desire Driving the White Evangelical Will to Power
      Mike Johnson’s Porn-Monitoring isn’t Just ‘Creepy’ — it’s a Window to the Fascist Desire Driving the White Evangelical Will to Power

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.

President Joe Biden at a podium with a microphone in hand.
Archive, Christian Nationalism, OMFG, Politics/Law, Racial JusticeOctober 31, 2023

Biden’s Embrace of ‘Victory Culture’ is a Victory for Toxic White Christianity

By Peter Laarman

Every new day reveals fresh hints of Joe Biden’s wish to be remembered as a…

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Archive, BooksDecember 29, 2022

When ‘Church Business’ Yields a Real Page Turner

By Peter Laarman

I have to admit that Michelle Huneven’s new novel was almost too delicious for me,…

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

Evangelicals Clutching 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!)…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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(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…

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(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…

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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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