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Good (Enough) Christians — Russell Moore in The Atlantic Illustrates the Limitations of ‘Christian Nationalism’ as Category

By Chrissy Stroop

…s of abortion rights and LGBTQ inclusion, can obtain “get out of criticism free” cards simply because they are outspoken opponents of Christian nationalism. Clearly we need better language to address anti-democratic Christian beliefs. So how does one responsibly cover Christian nationalists these days? To begin with, we must find language that doesn’t allow for the easy whitewashing of “respectable” Christians who hold authoritarian theological be…

How “Gratitude” Underwrites Inequality, Power, and Exclusion

By Eric C. Miller

…le was emphatic that Christianity was the one thing standing in the way of free market capitalism taking over the United States and ruining the morals of the citizens. He saw Christianity as providing a check on market logics. There have been times when certain forms of Christianity—that of the Transcendentalists in the 1830s and 40s, for instance—exhibited the potential for a gospel of debt forgiveness to stand in opposition to the free market. B…

I Always Knew Santa Was Make-Believe: A Retired Pastor on Losing Her Faith

By Anne Grant

…Bush declared that he had to invade Iraq because God wanted to set people free. I paced our empty church and told the President: “You just cut my umbilical cord to Christianity.” I had no idea what that meant. If President Bush was like a midwife, cutting my connection to those lifelong beliefs, then what new life was being born? Years later, Phil reminded me that someone else had freed us from our theological assumptions in a far more generous a…

It’s Not “Inappropriate” for Public School Teacher to Tell Class that Obama Isn’t Christian

By Joseph Laycock

…discuss important controversial topics and that schools must be “religion free zones.” Superintendent Ledbetter announced that he’s considering more diversity and sensitivity training for teachers. He also sent a certified letter to the parents explaining that the incident will not happen again and that Nancy Perry is retiring. A local NBC affiliate reported, “The superintendent believes it goes back to a basic lesson: don’t talk politics or reli…

Does Traditional Christian Marriage Just Mean “Not Gay”?

By Daniel Silliman

…Knapps beyond “the couple is straight.” According to the lawsuit, wedding services at the Hitching Post are traditional and Christian because they “include references to God, the invocation of God’s blessing on the union, brief remarks drawn from the Bible designed to encourage the couple and help them to have a successful marriage.” The couples are also given several references for evangelical marriage advice guides, including works by Timothy K…

Why Al Mohler offered to “Host” Kentucky’s U.S. Senate Race Debates

By Mike Greer

…coming into question. Recently a second Kentucky Baptist College acted to free itself from Kentucky Baptists’ (i.e. Mohler’s) larger fundamentalist agenda by announcing its independence from state convention control. Southern Baptists recently rebuffed Mohler’s demand that a Southern Baptist church be expelled for being soft on the issue of gay inclusion. Southern Baptists are now openly debating the dangers of Mohler’s hyper-Calvinism. In a 2014…

What ‘Faith Groups Do X’ Journalism Reveals About the Press’s Priorities

By Chrissy Stroop

Along with freedom of religion, freedom of the press stands as one of the five fundamental freedoms in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. But what is the free press, as an institution, supposed to do? Theorists of democracy generally put forth the free press as a cornerstone of civil society. Media outlets inform readers on matters of public interest, sometimes exposing malfeasance and corruption in business or government. They also prov…

Of Love and Lodging: Doctor Who Part VIII

By Gabriel Mckee

…ught. And so the challenge of this episode is both to “lodge” and to break free, to dare to think and act with courageous independence, but also to dare to commit and to belong. Gabriel Mckee__________ The Lodger Last year, I gave a three-part seminar on superheroes and religion at the Cornerstone Musical Festival. (I also did a video-blog of the music festival, which you can watch here.) My seminar was in the “Imaginarium” tent, where the festiva…

Body of Work: Remembering Daniel Berrigan, 1921-2016

By Michele Somerville

…n’s dying, like all deaths, as the shedding of a worn-out jacket. The soul freed of its tattered covering moves on to another life. That is somewhat but not entirely consistent with the Catholic teaching on death. As I mourn the death of this extraordinary man, whom I see in the famous photo smiling and more free than most, maybe, in handcuffs, smiling. I think of the Christ and the body. I think of how expert and deliberate Berrigan was in using…

Does God Hate Health Care? How About Public Schools? Or Bridges?

By Joanna Brooks

…or Mormon anti-state conservatism is the idea that these programs mitigate freedom of choice. Mormon theology holds that the purpose of human existence is the free exercise of human agency—the ability to choose—so that men and women can learn by experience and prepare themselves to share in the glory of God. Of course, this emphasis on agency never hindered the nineteenth-century Mormon practices of economic communitarianism. But early twentieth-c…