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American Infidel: Robert Ingersoll Was the “Great Agnostic” of the (Last) Gilded Age

By Peter Laarman

…ttacks on “superstition” and religious flummery were tolerated in part because he was so good-humored and generous to friends and enemies alike—and also because his renown for matchless oratory in political life and in courtrooms gave him a degree of protective cover. When he died, in 1899, numerous obituaries and editorials deplored how he had used his great gifts to mock religion, some even noting that he could have been elected to high office—p…

Romania’s “Witch Tax”: Magic Meets Bureaucracy

By Joseph Laycock

…ommunism, witchcraft was officially banned. However, in the 1960s Elena Ceausescu (the wife of dictator Nicolae Ceausesecu) is said to have retained a witch known as Mama Omida or “Mother Caterpillar.” Mama Omida died in 1967 but is remembered as one of the most famous and powerful witches of Romania. Her daughter, Rodica Gheorge, is now among the most popular and wealthy witches in the country. She also has a blog featuring testimonials for her c…

Why Evolution Should Be Taught in Church

By Paul Wallace

…attend church—conservative, liberal, whatever—do so, at least in part, because of mystery. They may never use that word, but there it is nonetheless. This is not to say that all are motivated by mystery in exactly the same way. Some people attend church in order to receive answers to the hard questions life throws at them, to shield them from the dark realities of modern life, to seek reliable absolutes by which to measure the world. That is, thos…

Conservatism’s Bulldog Claims Psychology Tilts Liberal

By Ira Chernus

…the intellectuals knew it) in assuming that there was an inherent conflict between individual freedom and group well-being, between true democracy and the highest moral values. Why should we make those assumptions? Or, more precisely: Who would make those assumptions? There is a mass of research (which Haidt rejects, as noted above) to demonstrate the answer quite empirically: people who are afraid of rapid change, which they interpret as a threat…

The Problem with the Notion of “Closely-Held Corporations” in Hobby Lobby

By Kara Loewentheil

…rotection for human beings. A corporation is simply a form of organization used by human beings to achieve desired ends. . . . protecting the free-exercise rights of corporations like Hobby Lobby . . . protects the religious liberty of the humans who own and control those companies. Given that, it makes sense only to recognize religious rights for a for-profit entity when the entity’s owners are unanimous in their beliefs and their desired action….

Day of (Anti-Bullying) Silence Shows “Pro-Family” Activists to be Anti-Gay Bullies

By Julie Ingersoll

…ns of opinion at a public school during non-instructional time: the breaks between classes, before and after the school day, lunchtime, and any other free times during your day.” In a document [pdf], entitled “Tips for the Last Minute Organizer of Those Whose Administrators Said ‘No,’” students are explicitly told that if a teacher asks them to speak they “do NOT have a right to remain silent during class time.” In schools where permission is deni…

Palin Bus Tour Like Gideon’s Fleece

By Anthea Butler

…of evangelists like Oral Roberts and other small time gospel preachers who used the summer to set up their tents across America, traveling in buses and spreading the “good news.” Palin’s bus tour takes that strategy up a notch: it is the “Where’s Waldo” evangelical-political tour bus, touting the “good news” of Palin and her commitment to the “Fundamental Restoration of America.” The reward for those with the stamina to chase her down: a photo opp…

The Myth of the ‘Lone Wolf’ Shooter Blinds Us to the Reality of White Supremacy

By Ivan Strenski

…rity for those seeking to protect the innocent against the exploitation of freedom of speech. Unlike the free speech orator holding forth on their soap box in Times Square, those networked on social media enjoy a robust social existence, despite never even “meeting’ on FaceTime. They just don’t launch a random lone opinion or two, they publish and distribute information worldwide at the touch of a key. They exchange, interact and communicate with…

Rubio’s Awkward Balancing Act Between Evangelicals and Catholics

By Patricia Miller

…n Iowa, where, as Sarah Posner notes here in RD, evangelicals seem divided between the hard-core Christian nationalism of Ted Cruz and Rubio’s kinder, gentler approach that focuses on his “personal relationship with Jesus.” Writing in RNS, Jonathan Merritt says that while the ad is a “mishmash of religious beliefs and Bible verses,” he finds it “surprisingly cogent.” But the ad strikes me as an awkward—if wishful—amalgamation of evangelical, and E…

ACLU and Thomas More Law Center Rush to Terry Jones Defense

By Lauri Lebo

…was locked up, not because he was suspected of committing a crime, but because he refused to promise that he wouldn’t go near the mosque. (Hey Wayne County, thought crime, much?) The ACLU submitted an amicus curiae brief to the 19th District Court in defense of Jones’ right to protest, which says, “If the First Amendment has any meaning, it is that the government cannot suppress the free speech because it — or anyone else — disagrees with the spee…