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Yet Another Survey Shows ‘Nones’ Growth at Record Levels

By Elizabeth Drescher

…s “New Directions in the Study of Prayer” initiative, will explore the plurality of Nones who say they regularly engage in prayer. The second, sponsored in part through a Hackworth Grant from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, will explore the ethical practices of Nones. These two projects are part of a larger book project, Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America’s Nones, which will be released by Oxfo…

Welcome to the Shari’ah Conspiracy Theory Industry

By Sarah Posner

…onstitution.” Based on the “explanatory memorandum” document identifying a number of American Muslim organizations as allies in its author’s aspirations, prosecutors in the Holy Land Foundation trial publicly labeled over 200 American Muslim organizations “unindicted co-conspirators,” a highly controversial move derided at the time by legal experts as contrary to Justice Department policy and in violation of the groups’ constitutional rights. Even…

Sovereign Grace Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Just Got More Complicated

By T.F. Charlton

…m are from Virginia) will be able to bring suit against SGM. On May 29, Susan Burke and William O’Neil, lawyers for the plaintiffs, filed a motion for Burrell to reconsider her decision. They plan to appeal if this request is denied. Burke has also stated that “Going forward with a civil lawsuit does not in any way prevent criminal actions—perhaps may even make it more likely.” The personal and organizational fallout for SGM and in the churches n…

The Brutality of Life for Syrian LGBTs; Saving the Anglican Church by Dissolving It; Backlash to Hindu Gay Wedding Ceremony in Indonesia; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…gly against the elevation of female clergy to leadership positions and the sanctioning of homosexuality…. In the first years of his term, Welby sought to build ties with African church leaders to forestall schism. If these reports are correct, he seems to have decided that even if the Communion could be duct-taped together for now, a more permanent solution was going to have to come eventually. “We have no Anglican Pope. Our authority as a church…

How the Politics of the 1890s Explain the GOP’s Health Care Woes

By Patricia Miller

…ess the “Billion Dollar Congress,” charging Republicans with overtaxing Americans to spend money on unneeded, big-ticket items. They massacred them in the mid-terms and sent Grover Cleveland back to the White House in 1892. Suddenly in charge again after running against the tariff and the Silver Act, they, like today’s GOP, were in the hook to make good on their promises of returning America to better, simpler days without government interference….

Are Conservative Churches Really Winning by Being More Orthodox?

By Daniel Schultz

…e would have gone on identifying as they had been and the percentage of Americans preferring no religion would have risen only [modestly]. Hout and Fischer released a study this year with Mark A. Chaves, which seemed to show that the trend continues. Their original findings have been partly confirmed by the Pew Forum, which found in 2012 that the nones overwhelmingly saw religious organizations as “too focused on rules,” “too concerned with money…

More Thoughts on Media Coverage of Liberal Religion

By Sarah Posner

…eption of religious freedom does not reflect the religious views of all Americans, and that it may, in fact, infringe on the religious liberty of dissenting Americans. The anti-contraception mandate camp has claimed a monopoly on being the ones with the oppressed religious views. If for no other reason, these other, quite conventional religious views are important to cover. Not because they should dictate policy, but because they show how a singul…

Fusion Politics: A Way Forward for Bernie Sanders?

By Daniel Schultz

…Mondays movement. Given Hillary Clinton’s deep reservoir of support with African-American voters, it might not have made much difference, but it’s an interesting counter-factual to contemplate. Barber himself seems to have thought along similar lines, suggesting at one point an alliance with the liberal netroots community Daily Kos, long a bastion for support for Sanders. (Full disclosure: I used to be very active at Daily Kos and formerly ran its…

Newsweek’s Strange Faces of the Christian Right List

By Sarah Posner

…changing and growing more diffuse, even as it remains a potent force in American politics.” While some of the picks seem obvious (Marjorie Dannenfelser of the anti-choice group Susan B. Anthony List, or Jim Daly, the new head of Focus on the Family, or Robert George mastermind of the Manhattan Declaration) legal scholar Melissa Rogers is most decidedly not a member of the Christian right. Rogers, who has worked for the pro-church-state-separation…

Do iPads Cause Religious Experiences?

By Andrew Aghapour

…designed by an engineer with a master plan, but rather by hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary tinkering. Over the last few decades, our picture of the human brain has morphed considerably. During much of the twentieth century the brain was thought to act like an efficiently managed corporate skyscraper, where information is brought to the CEO at the top floor by a hierarchy of workers, divided into departments with specific tasks, fun…