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Sex and the (Hipster) Church—Just a Gimmick?

By Nicole Greenfield

…culturally savvy, young evangelicals. (Although as a recent Religion News Service report indicates, more direct sex talk is a growing trend even among traditional evangelicals.) For the middle-aged Youngs—married 30 years and parents of four, image-obsessed and raking in millions as leaders of an ever-growing church empire—the attempt to fit into hip Christian culture would seem futile. They are wannabes, as Brett McCracken, author of Hipster Chr…

None Means None (Not Atheist, Agnostic, Unbeliever…)

By Elizabeth Drescher

…sts. Not anti-religious. Given this, it caught my eye when a Religion News Service headline began to propagate at outlets from Sojourners to The Christian Century to the Washington Post: “Unbelief is Now the World’s Third-Largest Religion.” Meanwhile, back at RNS, someone caught the mistake and the headline was amended to “The ‘Nones’ Now Form the World’s Third-Largest Religion” with a correction added: “An earlier version of this article containe…

Jesus, Gentrification, and the Hypocrisy of “Diversity”: An Interview with D.L. Mayfield

By Kaya Oakes

…tholic missions in California, where I grew up, and where scores of Native Americans died due to the missionary efforts of the recently canonized Junipero Serra, among others. More recently, Catholic missionary efforts have focused more on providing food and medical aid in countries like South Sudan, where few secular NGOs have been willing to go. And recent discussions of Tim Kaine’s work in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps have lead to further confusi…

The Tense History Behind Jimmy Carter’s Liberty U. Commencement Address

By John Fea

…ty by talking about the Christian roots of American freedom and connecting American destiny to the old belief, dating back to the 17th-century Puritans who settled New England, that America was God’s great “city upon a hill.” Reagan opposed abortion, promised to fight moral decay in American culture, and assured Falwell and the rising Religious Right that he would keep the federal government from intruding on the lives and schools of ordinary evan…

‘He Gets Us’ and Sleazy ‘Swift Boat’ Ads Share a Central Figure — Further Evidence of a Right-Wing Bait-and-Switch

By Chrissy Stroop

…ious, and only served to underscore that the fundamentally anti-democratic American Right considers Democrats, liberals, and progressives “unpatriotic” and “un-American” simply by virtue of their ideological disagreements. But the hypocrisy didn’t matter for how things played out. The Swift Boat ads undoubtedly contributed to tanking Kerry’s chances against incumbent George W. Bush, and the campaign led to the rise of the term “swiftboating” to de…

Georgia Gov Vetoes Right-To-Discriminate Bill

By Elizabeth Reiner Platt

…services—such as musicians, florists, or caterers—to discriminate against customers based on religious beliefs, since providing these services may require attending a wedding. This section of the bill contained no ban against invidious discrimination otherwise prohibited by state or federal law, and therefore may have empowered government officials and wedding-related service providers to refuse to attend interfaith or interracial weddings. Allow…

‘Welcome to the War’: What a Creationist Conference Can Teach us About Evangelical Vaccine Resistance

By Caroline Matas

…iG’s view) want to banish the Christian god from his rightful place at the center of American life. You might ask what makes the vaccine different in this way than, say, pain relievers manufactured by these same companies? Or hospitals that affirm transgender patients and support multi-faith initiatives but are also unvaccinated people’s last hope if they find themselves in need of a ventilator? The short answer is that the narrative of hostile re…

What to Wear When Praying with the Pope

By Donna Schaper

I made a lot of jokes about what to wear to the Pope’s Interfaith Service at Ground Zero yesterday. I was so thrilled to be invited that I needed a slant way to lose my pride and let it imitate the Pope’s humility. Thus the question of what to wear was my sneaky way of alerting people I had been invited by the Cardinal. Yup, the Cardinal. I know, I am bragging again. As I left the house, my husband said, “I look forward to touching your hem when…

Religious Opposition To LGBT Equality Softening

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…njoying equal rights in every area of life from housing, to employment, to service in the military, to marriage rights, has come from religious quarters. Recent trends, however, show even religious opposition is softening. The UK-based religious think-tank Ekklesia is claiming that a growing number of Christian groups are now identifying as supporting gays and lesbians than in previous years. In a press release, Symon Hill, associate director of E…

Mexican Bishops Exorcism Against Equality; African Bishops Oppose ‘Enemy of Human Race’; Israeli Islamic Leader Anti-Gay Op-Ed

By Peter Montgomery

…an. Lithuania: Army’s says men who love flowers are gay and unfit for Army service. A report from Eric Rosswood at the New Civil Rights Movement: The Lithuanian army has reintroduced compulsory military draft this year, and randomly selected candidates will have to report to a military recruitment office in order to be screened for suitability for military service. According to the Lithuania Tribune, that screening includes a psychological test th…