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The Next Big Religion Issue: Immigration

By Daniel Schultz

…The answer is relatively straightforward. Working from cynical up, it’s in most denominations’ interest to appeal to immigrants, given current demographic realities. But there are also scriptural imperatives to do justice or to practice hospitality. Most of all, though, immigration is one subject on which the Bible is very, very clear. As Anthony Robinson says, The overall theme of the Bible’s teaching is summed up in Exodus 22:21, “You shall not…

“As Orthodox As They Come”: A Backstage Conversation With Rob Bell

By Andrew Aghapour and Michael Schulson

…s for all of us, and what kind of life Jesus wants us to live, more than almo*]}*st anybody in my life,” Bell told Religion News Service in December). Over the course of his career, Bell has espoused an increasingly universalist message. His work seems to be most appealing to ex-Christians or those on the margins looking for a way to remain in the Christian fold. How, Bell seems to be asking, can I reject as little as possible, while remaining nominal…

Episcopal Conference Lives Up to Episcopal Jokes

By Julie Ingersoll

…ing much happened,” according to a friend of mine who was a delegate. “The most contentious issue voted on had to do with something about priests’ retirement,” and he abstained on that one. This same friend told me a couple of years ago, at what seemed like the height of the battling, that it was all not such a big deal, that the number of dissidents was actually quite small and that he thought his church would be better off once they were gone….

Dieting, Sex, Jesus: The Body as Moral Battleground

By Lynne Gerber

…want to focus just on fatness. I was very aware of how difficult it is for most people to develop and maintain a critical perspective on this issue, especially when words like “health,” “morbidity,” and “death” are raised; words that are often halt critical thinking about fat in its tracks. So I was in search of a case or an issue that would be a productive conversation partner with fatness. Another inspiration for the project was some reading I w…

The Suppression of Sin in Evangelical Abolitionism: The Wilberforce Problem

By Jonathan D. Fitzgerald

…oday, seems like someone whose memory would be easy to celebrate. He was almo*]}*st solely responsible for ending the slave trade and the eventual abolition of slavery in the British Empire, which helped bring about abolition in the United States as well. Then, as now, however, that noble cause wasn’t always as straightforward as one might hope. Wilberforce’s politics, particularly his strident abolitionist positions, were motivated in large part by h…

As New Poll Finds “Increased Xenophobic Streak,” Republicans Heighten Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

By Sarah Posner

…ntrary to Islam. White evangelicals and white mainline Protestants are the most likely religious groups to agree with the statement that Islam is “at odds with American values and way of life” (73 percent and 63 percent, respectively). But the uptick in the percentage of people agreeing with the statement took place across demographic categories, Jones said, as the overall percentage of people agreeing rose nine percentage points in two years, fro…

Feeding on the Faithful: How Supernatural Thinking Empowered the Third Reich

By Eric Kurlander

…itate “alt-right,” racist, illiberal, anti-democratic politics? What’s the most important take-home message for readers? The message is that the Third Reich would have been highly improbable without a widespread penchant for supernatural thinking—exacerbated by military defeat and social crisis—which Hitler and the Nazi Party rushed to exploit. Nazism was not the first movement to take advantage of people’s faith for political purposes. But Hitler…

Conservative Hardliners at Synod Prompt Question: “What Are We Doing Here?”

By Patricia Miller

…wo-year-long, two-part synod process, he won’t do anything. That makes the most likely outcome, according to Douthat, “simple ambiguity,” with Francis issuing a post-synod exhortation that: 1) officially reaffirms the indissolubility of marriage, 2) doesn’t endorse any specific pastoral approach for the divorced and remarried (or for the cohabitating, or gay couples, etc.), but 3) also doesn’t condemn any propositions or approaches to these issues…

Dispatches From the Rhodian Shore: A (Tough) Love Letter to Religious Studies

By Todd LeVasseur

…ate also tracks closely to worst-case sea-level- rise predictions from the most recent IPCC report for ice sheets, suggesting a minimum 16 inches of sea level rise by 2100 from just this one source, with more to come after that. (For those of you employed at campuses or institutions near the coast, like I am, this should be adding to feelings of alarm.) 4. Another group of scientists are very worried that the Earth will soon lose its ability to ca…

Is Abortion No Longer Significant for Evangelicals — or Has it Just Become Like Water?

By Bradley Onishi

…munications, and outreach are all woefully off base concerning the party’s most cherished and loyal constituency. Asking white evangelicals about abortion in 2018 may have been like asking vacationers how important it would be for a fancy resort to provide running water in all their rooms. Most would assume that such establishments would provide this amenity by default. Thus, when asked if it were a priority over, say, a private hot tub or an ocea…