Religion Dispatches
…ion. Perhaps in the wake of the tragedy in Ferguson there will be a renewed vigor from progressive churches that will help repair old coalitions, build new ones, and tell a new story about who gets to speak “for religious people.”…
Read More…s might have talked about peace and poverty, but Francis’s much-discussed “new tone” seems like a permission slip for Democrats to talk religion without a full scale showdown on culture war issues. That said, there are topics apparently left undiscussed: a new war on LGBT people in Russia, Nigeria, and elsewhere, not to mention that elephant in the room with all things Francis, what freedom means for half the world’s population, women. Obama and K…
Read MoreAn old friend expressed confusion last night after reading the new Pew Research Poll focusing on white evangelicals. “Where’s the surprise?” he asked. There is no surprise. Not much, anyway. What we have here is a case of Lucy managing to pull the football out from under poor old Charlie Brown, again. We go through this every four years: there’s a flurry of articles wondering Is This The End Of The Religious Right?, pointing to the emergence of a…
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…ly than they’d been accustomed to doing. Scholars argue whether or not the New Deal helped or hindered the nation’s recovery, and if it fundamentally altered or safeguarded capitalism, yet its influence on American values and identity shaped successive generations. Alongside older notions of self-help and limited government, the New Deal fostered acceptance of a strong centralized state actively involved with its citizens’ material well-being. The…
Read More…vangelicals and other serious religious people will not automatically vote Republican. What is omitted from this scenario, often so pleasing to liberals and progressives, is a woman’s right to make decisions about her body. Abortion rights is talked about as an unfortunate issue that they wish were not there. As a point of fact, these more moderate evangelical leaders are still opposed to a woman’s right to choose. On the night before the 2004 ele…
Read More…ell as the appeal to “remove the veil from their hearts.” According to the New York Times, the new prayer may be translated as follows: “Let us pray for the Jews. May the Lord Our God enlighten their hearts so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, the savior of all men.” The prayer also expresses hope that “all Israel may be saved.” What many may not realize is that both the old and the new Good Friday prayers are citing the apostle Paul. The re…
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…G). Meanwhile, the NAR is a racially and culturally diverse coalition that promotes Christian Zionism as fervently as it promotes Christian nationalism in the US. And while the NAR’s philosemitism can itself be deeply problematic, it certainly isn’t as threatening as White supremacy’s conspiracy-laden antisemitism. However, as recently as the mid-twentieth century, the movements actually were the same. William Branham (1909-1965) was a revivalist…
Read More…thinks creationism should be taught in the public schools. As part of the new project, AIG and Ark Encounter also say they are seeking tax breaks from the state, an announcement which has raised the eyebrows of constitutional watchdogs. According to the Courier-Journal: Gov. Beshear spokeswoman Kerri Richardson declined to answer questions Tuesday about possible incentives for the project. The developers are seeking incentives under the Kentucky…
Read MoreKentucky Gov. Matt Bevin marked the arrival of Spring by signing a new “religious freedom” law that allows student groups at public universities and high schools to turn away LGBT students, ostensibly in the interest of permitting “students to voluntarily express religious or political viewpoints.” Kentucky’s new law is just the latest salvo in a growing trend that uses weaponized “religious freedom” legislation to target specific state functions…
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…raham (including their shared mentorship of Robert Schuller); He shows how New Thought and prosperity preaching can easily, if not logically, coexist with premillennarian ideas about imminent destruction and judgment; He writes adeptly on the interplay between 1970s economic decline and its imposition of new gender roles, as well as the emergence of the Servant Leadership concept in conservative Protestant thought and in management theory; He care…
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