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American Conservatives, Jewish Law, and Israel’s New Abortion Policy

By Sarah Posner

…groups that have adopted American conservative norms and outreach are a tiny minority in Israel. Be’ad Chaim makes headlines in American outlets like the Christian Broadcasting Network, whose viewers like to hear both about missionizing Israelis and bringing American anti-abortion attitudes to the Holy Land. As Be’ad Chaim co-founder Tony Sperandeo told CBN, “We want to remember that the shedding of innocent blood brings a curse and Jesus came –…

Religious Right Reax to SCOTUS: “A Spiritual 9/11”

By Peter Montgomery

…tely about — and why it’s far from over. Catholic vote has also released a new “coming out” video for people taking the bold step of saying the believe marriage is between a man and a woman, complete with a tearful “you are not alone.” Not surprisingly, the reaction from Republican presidential candidates who are courting Religious Right voters was also swift, and often couched in religious terms. Among them: “The Supreme Court can no more repeal…

A Catholic House Divided Over Reproductive Health Care: Bishops Launch a New Campaign

By Frances Kissling

…required to provide condoms or information to prevent HIV/AIDS or the transmission of any other sexually transmitted infection and, in most states, Catholic hospitals do not have to provide EC in their emergency rooms for women who have been raped—and in no state are they required to provide it for any reason other than rape. Are not the Catholic health providers’ consciences sufficiently protected by the explicit and tacit provisions in our laws…

Before Breitbart: How Right Wing Media Transformed American Politics

By Eric C. Miller

…first generation, joined National Review as its publisher in 1957. By the mid-1950s, then, there were a number of conservative periodicals, publishing houses, and radio shows. And they weren’t just isolated outlets scattered across the country. They were intimately connected through overlapping donors, personnel, and relationships. Regnery was an early sponsor of the Manion Forum. Manion sat on the board of National Weekly, which oversaw National…

A Queer New Year

By Peter Montgomery

…ligious colleges. Look for all these stories—and some of the not-such-good-news we covered in 2012—to continue making waves in 2013. Civil Marriage and Uncivil Religion On New Year’s Day, same-sex couples in Maryland started getting legally married—joining those in Washington state and Maine, where voters had also given a thumbs-up in a remarkable set of November election victories. Pro-equality activists are working to build on those victories wi…

The Breaking of Biblical Womanhood: The Problem With the Hot New Book Taking Aim at the Subjugation of Women in Evangelicalism

By Jill Hicks-Keeton

…back against the Christian patriarchy that constrained us. I pursued academia, earning a PhD in New Testament, to the disappointment of the young gentleman in the living room (though probably to the relief of my parents). Two decades removed, that moment in my parents’ living room feels like it’s from another world. But it helps me understand how I got to where I am today: a divorced mama too proud to admit she stayed in an abusive marriage becau…

“I Would Have Rolled My Eyes at That”: Rev. M Barclay, First Non-Binary Trans Deacon in the UMC, On This New Era

By The Editors

…We need organizing. We need to address oppressive powers! And do we ever. But in the midst of that, there is so much need to care for one another, to individually and collectively tend to our pain, to find beauty that will sustain us for the long haul. And so I find myself, in the midst of all that seeks to destroy right now, more committed than ever to simply practicing and receiving and paying attention to every opportunity to cultivate life in…

Newt Gingrich, New Catholic, Presidential Hopeful

By Joanna Brooks

…ial conservatives will forget their deep-seated anti-Papistry and love his new Jesus credentials. 3. Newt Gingrich is hoping the Latino base will forget the Republican’s deep-seated anti-immigrant politics and love his new Jesus credentials. 4. Mrs. Gringrich the third (the former Callista Bisek, who we are trying not to notice met her husband by having an affair with him during his second marriage) has serious Catholic cred as well as serious f…

What Did the Puritans Have Against Christmas?

By Bruce David Forbes

…ed: Germans, Scandinavians, and the Dutch who founded New Amsterdam (later New York). So Lutherans, Catholics, and the Dutch Reformed celebrated Christmas, along with the Church of England that continued restrained Christmas observances. As a result of this mixture, in the American colonies and then in the new nation, there was no national consensus supporting Christmas, and the disagreement was between Christians. American Christmas wouldn’t come…

The New Church: Sexual and Ethnic Diversity… and Drums!

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…an Christians colonized much of the world they found people playing drums. Since these “other” communities could not possibly have true religion, drums must be associated with false or heathen religions. A history of Christian colonization and missionization becomes also a history of destroying drums. So, maybe these new practices among congregations are telling us something more. Maybe “ethnic diversity” and the “playing of drums” are not actuall…