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Obama’s Religion Ambassador: Inexperienced?

By Anthea Butler

…of State. As someone who has written about the civic engagement of African-American women in my latest book, Rev. Cook’s scattered resumé lacks the distinction of other notable black women historically involved in both religious affairs and international engagement, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, civil rights leader, and founder of the National Council of Negro Women, or Sue Bailey Thurman, who was committed to inter-religious and interrac…

Evangelical Pastor Tests First Amendment Waters

By Randall Balmer

…sibly) that any such taxpayer-subsidized organization should not be in the business of endorsing political candidates. That’s the deal. Now if you persist in flouting the law, I invite you to do the honorable thing and surrender your church’s tax-exempt status. Then no one would quibble with your political endorsements. The other, more important reason that your appeal to Roger Williams is misguided, Rev. Williams, is that Roger Williams, founder…

Funding of Creationist Organizations Doubles

By Lauri Lebo

…tax records are available). Answers In Genesis remains the big boy in the business, far ahead of Creation Ministries International (from which AIG split a few years ago) and Institute for Creation Institute. AIG is the owner of the Kentucky-based Creation Museum, which features saddle-wearing dinosaurs and a recreation of Noah’s Ark built to biblical scale. Sadly, the gross revenue of National Center for Science Education, the primary defender of…

Rand Paul: We Wouldn’t Need Laws If Everyone Were Christian

By Sarah Posner

…he 1964 Civil Rights Act need “further discussion” and may violate private business owners’ First Amendment rights, said that we wouldn’t really need laws in this country if everyone were a good Christian: I’m a Christian. We go to the Presbyterian Church. My wife’s a Deacon there and we’ve gone there ever since we came to town. I see that Christianity and values is the basis of our society. . . . 98% of us won’t murder people, won’t steal, won’t…

In Which I Agree With Rod Dreher

By Daniel Schultz

…oh, dear: Ted Haggard’s back in the ministry business: whenever I see a religious leader who has gone through a crisis like Haggard’s starting a new church, returning to the pulpit after a relatively short interruption, or in some way continuing to offer himself as a religious leader, I don’t think “hooray for second chances,” I think, “there goes a narcissist.” And it’s not because I don’t believe in second chances, either. But it has to be cov…

Ian Buruma on the Political Excesses of Religion

By Lisa Webster

…t you’re blessed by God. That does seem to have remained a through-line in American theological culture. But that was true for [European] Calvinists as well. That’s one of the reasons Holland in the 17th century became such a successful commercial society. It was wrong to be ostentatious—you didn’t show it off—but the accumulation showed that you were one of the chosen ones. Sometimes it seems like we’re simply “consumers.” Yeah, but citizens as w…

New Ex-Offender Program Puts Church Ahead Of State

By Mark Bergen

…nt funding, required inmate participants “to attend Bible study, Christian classes, and church services,” in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Alex Luchenitser, the lead litigator for Americans United in the case, wrote in a legal journal, “Inmates who did not subscribe to the program’s religious teachings faced discrimination and pressure to convert.” Despite legal challenges, PFM continued to minister in prisons and t…

Invoking God’s Name Like a Bludgeon

By Lauri Lebo

…two defining forces have ever offered to die for you. Jesus Christ and the American G.I. One died for your soul, the other died for your freedom. Nice, huh? I can imagine them chuckling to themselves over their oh-so-cleverness. Using a parable – and we know Jesus was all about parables – at a government-financed institution to illustrate that anyone who does not take the Bible literally is damned to hell. According to news reports, David Llewelly…

ENDA = Men in Dresses?

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…s into your child’s classroom. Under ENDA your children will be trapped in classes taught by drag queens and transgender activists. This is a pro-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) bill that will force every business with 15 or more employees to hire and affirm men who wear dresses and individuals who have undergone a complete or half “sex change.” This includes every school in America and children will be victimized by these bizarre indiv…

Father Does Not Know Best: How To Fix the Catholic Church

By Mary E. Hunt

…ior was easy to pull off, unquestioned by those who had been taught it was business as usual. Creeping Infallibility Two Roman Catholic theological confusions make the problems even more complex. One is the notion of secrecy and the other is a misunderstanding of infallibility. There is a culture of secrecy in Catholicism that is rooted in the “seal of the confessional.” That means that when a Catholic confesses a sin to a priest in the Sacrament…