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War on Christmas Affirmed by Southern Baptist Convention

By Mark Gstohl

…ts proper place in the culture.” Although I doubt that any of my Lutheran, Catholic, Muslim, or atheist friends will call me to complain about this resolution, I find it just as troubling as many of the previous more controversial resolutions. As a Baptist, I tend to use Scripture as a hermeneutical screen for understanding my world and the ethical issues I face. The first text that comes to mind is also known as The Golden Rule found in Matthew 7…

Racial Justice Will Be Top Priority for New Prez of the United Church of Christ

By Frederick Clarkson

…Americans to oppose slavery. By 1785 the church had ordained the first African-American protestant minister; in 1853 ordained the first woman as clergy since New Testament times; and in 1972 ordained the first openly gay person. So it was no surprise that when marriage equality overcame the last legal hurdle in Arizona, Dorhauer found himself standing in that tradition with other progressive clergy outside the Maricopa County Courthouse holding a…

“What Kind of Islam Is That?”: Talking With Refugees From ISIS

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…IS fighters who captured him as a man in the village to whom he had sold a car. The car dealer was from the Kurdish ethnic community; the man who bought his car was an Arab. When the town was surrounded by ISIS, the militants forcibly divided the population into its Kurdish and Arab groups. One of the Arabs suggested that representatives from both groups wave a white flag and go to the ISIS leaders to negotiate their way out of the situation. That…

The Only Religion Question Reporters and Debate Moderators Should Ask Presidential Candidates (Kim Davis Edition)

By Sarah Posner

…didates mean when they support Kim Davis. It’s a perfect debate question because it’s not a religious litmus test such as quizzing candidates on favorite Bible verses, or asking them to describe what their faith has meant to them in their own lives. It’s also a question that cuts to the chase, without clouding an argument about authority with paeans to religious liberty. Here’s the question: do you believe there are any circumstances under which G…

The Fragility of Our Reality: A Conversation with the Brain Behind PBS Miniseries on Neuroscience

By Michael Schulson

…deas that we hadn’t thought of. The cosmos is so much more vast than we’re capable of wrapping our minds around, certainly in 2015, certainly in our brief lifetimes. In Sum, you play these kind of cosmological games—what if an afterlike looked like this, or like this, or like this? In some sense [Sum] is a possibilian manifesto. None of those stories were meant to be taken seriously, of course, but the serious part is the meta-message of the book,…

“We Blew it” on Climate Change, But May Survive Anyway: An RD Discussion with the First Transhumanist Candidate

By Andrew Aghapour

…’s a delightfully weird blend of science fiction and fact, where technological forecasting slips into eschatology. The eye-roll came when I learned that the Transhumanist Party’s presidential candidate, Zoltan Istvan, is campaigning to end tax subsidies for religion and divert that money to scientific research. Transhumanism itself could be considered a new religious movement that, as A. David Lewis argues, enshrines technology as humanity’s ultim…

The Passion of Katniss: How the Hunger Games Confronts the Trauma of Violence

By Michael Schulson

…invader while she chats about weekend plans with Chris Evans’ Captain America. In cadaver-and-crush films, the protagonists are detectives whose hunt for a killer becomes entangled with their quest for love. “Bones,” the long-running Fox hit, is a textbook case. “Traces of her blood will still be in that cement,” says Dr. Temperance Brennan in the pilot, her face inches from that of Seeley Booth, her crime-fighting partner. Forensics as foreplay….

Refusing Religion, Claiming the Future: A Roundtable Discussion on “The Nones Are Alright”

By Peter Laarman

…ny kind of alternative way of doing church or being church for younger African Americans. Is it your impression that black millennials, and young activists in particular, are doing their own version of DIY church or are they drawing their spiritual nourishment in ways that have nothing to do with church in any form? There’s certainly a historical precedent for young justice activists finding it impossible to remain inside quiescent religious insti…

“Fast for Families” Immigration Reform Effort Enters 20th Day

By Joanna Brooks

…f compassionate immigration reform. How has that impacted your work? I get phone calls from LDS people who would identify themselves as politically conservative, but they say, “There’s this guy I know . . . Can you help him? He’s a really good guy.” People need to remember that there are many “really good guys” out there waiting for immigration reform. People coming to the US for work get villainized. “Illegal alien” is one of the most unbelieva…

Religion or Insanity? Two Upcoming Murder Trials Will Ask the (Burning) Question

By Joseph Laycock

…re attempting to kill herself. Christensen claimed she was responding to a phone call from her husband, a pastor, who announced that the world was ending and to get the family ready. Cases such as this raise questions that have long gone unanswered about how the state should define “religion.” By what criteria should we decide whether deviant beliefs and actions are an expression of religion or evidence of a medical problem? Dr. Kolchak points out…