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Religion in Real Time on CNN’s “Believer”: A Conversation with Reza Aslan

By Kaya Oakes

…iliar with the Catholic mass will recognize some of the words that they’re using, but the words here are just a little bit different. And they are geared toward the concerns that the kind of people who are drawn to Santa Muerte feel—the outcasts, the people on the margins, people who feel they’ve been left behind by the church, or who don’t even belong to the church. It was extraordinary to see that happen before my eyes. But if you live in the so…

What Muslim Ban? A Religious Liberty Hearing in the Trump Era

By Elizabeth Reiner Platt

…tian harassment rather than attempts to expand access to jobs, services, housing, and health care; second, that groups seeking anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice exemptions want merely to “live-and-let-live” when in fact many of these organizations have consistently sought to ban LGBTQ relationships and abortion; and third, that issues around sex, marriage, and reproduction constitute the primary site for religious liberty disputes in the current politica…

If it’s Really About “Religious Freedom,” Why Mention Just One Belief?

By Sunnivie Brydum

…federal government due to their beliefs—for polygamy, marrying a minor, or using peyote, say—and FADA only addresses one highly particularized instance. As a society (and with the affirmation of judicial precedent), we have determined that certain religious beliefs are harmful to others, and therefore reasonably may be restricted. Which brings me to Desanctis’ curious insistence on focusing only on religious freedom efforts that concern themselves…

The Subway Sandwich Artist Argument; When “Religious Freedom” Isn’t About Religious Freedom

By Patrick Hornbeck

…e my hypothetical Subway employee, Phillips presents himself as “an artist using cake as his canvas.” If the Court agrees—if it finds that Phillips’ custom cake-making is a form of creative expression—then it will be more likely, although not certain, to conclude that he was within his rights when he refused to create a cake for a same-sex wedding reception despite readily doing so for opposite-sex ones. Why are the arguments in Masterpiece Cakesh…

Complicating the Prosperity Gospel Story: A Microeconomics of Pentecostalism, International Edition

By Naomi Haynes

…r lives—another common misconception about Pentecostalism. Rather, they’re using religion to act in and on the world—that is, to make life possible. What alternative title would you give the book? I’ve never thought of this—I am terrible at thinking of titles and was rather pleased with Moving by the Spirit. Having to come up with something else is hard! In any case, the idea of “moving,” and the Pentecostal version of this, which is what I mean b…

Marriage Debate in Australia Shifts To Push For Religious Exemptions; and More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…rced to marry same-sex couples under existing law. In these circumstances, using freedom of religion as a weapon to deprive LGBT people of any partnership recognition at all is misguided at best and disingenuous at worst. If the United States is any indication, proponents of religious exemptions are unlikely to stop at marriage. Since same-sex couples won the right to marry, many states have enacted laws that permit adoption and foster care provid…

Dear Governor Kasich, Will You Come Lead My Passover Seder?

By Michael Schulson

…riptures with real-live Hebrews. If that’s the case, then you’re basically using a group of Jews as a campaign prop. But that’s okay! Every politician does it. Plus, Jews love nothing more than to be props in Christian stories. Which is why I’m offering you the best photo-op of all: a leadership role in the Schulson seder. There will be yarmulkes. There will be soup. There will be photogenic Jews, and there will be matzah baked by Ted Cruz. I hope…

Aliens, Nanobots, & Microbes: The Science of Secular Apocalypse

By Michael Schulson

…t. Unlike, say, synthetic microbes that people may one day be able to make using widely available tools. You’d probably need even more intrusive surveillance apparatuses to regulate biotechnology or something like that. I guess I’m pretty skeptical about regulations in the future. But who the hell knows? History is full of surprises. I don’t feel great about it. I wouldn’t have a kid. Because you’re immersed in all of these doomsday scenarios? Bef…

Reality as Revelation: “Hail Caesar!” is the Coen Brothers’ Most Religious Movie Yet

By Elijah Siegler

…consensus saw it as a minor film, “a doodle in the Coen canon,” “fairly amusing,” and “disjointed and ramshackle”—and these were the positive reviews! A more negative critic called it “half baked and lazy.” But to me, Hail, Caesar! is both well-jointed and fully baked. From first frame to last, the theme of religion is treated with rigor and depth. I think there are at least two reasons why most critics missed that. First, Hail, Caesar! goes by f…

A Pastor Takes on BP in New Orleans

By Brentin Mock

…ialect unintelligible to the fishers. Adding insult, the interpreters were using communist phrases (according to those present) offensive to this community made up of refugees from south Vietnam, which was militarily overtaken by northern communist forces during the war. Rep. Joseph Cao, the first Vietnamese American voted to Congress, has since filled in with a “Rapid Response Team” equipped with culturally competent translators to help the fishe…