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Are We Entering the End Times for Mainline Seminaries?

By Elesha Coffman

…odist, Lutheran (ELCA), Presbyterian (PCUSA), Episcopal, American Baptist, United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ—peaked in membership in the 1960s, two generations ago. Downward trends in membership have affected seminaries in multiple ways, financial and missional. “Rich endowments can stave off the inevitable so long that, when closure comes, it feels sudden rather than inevitable.” On average, sponsoring denominations provided nearly…

India’s Elections and the “Doniger Affair”

By Murali Balaji

…too good to pass up. Many of these activists and scholars also live in the United States and the United Kingdom, often conjuring up fantasies of a right-wing Hindu takeover of Western institutions. Some, in the wake of the elections, have even tried to re-write history to a much more favorable interpretation of the Nehruvian model of secularism. However, they’ve remained conspicuously silent on India’s censorship of Salman Rushdie or Taslima Nasri…

New Report Shows Dems are Far More Religiously Diverse Than GOP — Though One (A)religious Group Remains Woefully Underrepresented

By Chrissy Stroop

…argely untouched by two trends that have long marked religious life in the United States: a decades-long decline in the share of Americans who identify as Christian, and a corresponding increase in the percentage who say they have no religious affiliation.” Specifically, the new Congress’s membership is over 87% Christian, while Christians currently make up only 63% of the population. Not only are Protestants overrepresented at 56.7% of the Congre…

The Great Secret of Constitutional Law: Why Proposition 8 Will (and perhaps should) Be Upheld

By Bruce Ledewitz

…of a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage. A decision by the United States Supreme Court recognizing same-sex marriage would certainly have led to efforts to amend the Constitution so as to overturn that result, and it is by no means clear that such an effort could have been blocked. Even if a proposed amendment had been prevented, the result would have been renewed public support for right-wing politicians who would work with renewe…

Catholic Universities Facing a Fork in the Road on Gender & Sexuality: The Church or the Culture

By Patricia Miller

…ecause of the tangible legal and financial benefits marriage allows in the United States, including tax benefits. Love Saxa’s advocacy of denying individuals’ rights on the basis of their sexual orientations is inherently intolerant. … Love Saxa’s constitution also identifies it as ‘a space [for students] to discuss their experiences of the harmful effects of a distorted view of human sexuality and the human person.’ By characterizing the LGBTQ ex…

The Most Forgotten Queer Folks in the US are Fighting Back Against a Powerful — and Publicly Funded — Group That Discriminates With Impunity

By Chrissy Stroop

…er education is unaffordable in the first place. But such is life in these United States. And with these concerns in mind, I consider it shameful that major LGBTQ advocacy organizations like Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal apparently want nothing to do with supporting LGBTQ kids in conservative Christian institutions of higher education, whether out of cowardice, strong pro-Christian implicit bias, or ignorance. Finally, conservative Christ…

“Evil,” a Cautionary Tale For Iran

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…olitical nonentity, a person who possesses no rights as articulated by the United States or the United Nations. The US Constitution does not apply directly to such nonentities, and neither does the Geneva Convention, nor the UN Declaration on Human Rights [whose 60th anniversary is tomorrow, December 10th. Look for RD’s feature for the occasion—ed.]. And so these evil people sit, many of them, in an equally amorphous political zone at Guantanamo B…

Catholic Bishops to Use Mass to Lobby Against Health Care?

By Frances Kissling

…ring to debate health care reform legislation. The Catholic bishops of the United States strongly support genuine health care reform that protects the life and dignity of all, from the moment of conception until natural death. However, all current bills are seriously deficient on abortion and conscience rights, and do not yet provide adequate access to health care for immigrants and the poor. In your pews/bulletins today, you’ll find a special fli…

When Religious Freedom Means Freedom for Religious Violence

By Frederick Clarkson

…ophetic community. And a populist movement is going to be raised up in the United States that is going to become the Great Awakening.” “It’s the spirit of God that has been on you your whole life,” he declares, “preparing you for this moment in history.” Walnau is just one of many who foresee violence. Last year, Prophet Amanda Grace, for example, blew a shofar to open a ReAwaken event, explaining, “When the shofar was blown, the walls of Jericho…

Rev. Smith Goes to Washington

By Frederick Clarkson

…he county. Fellow UCC minister Barry Lynn (executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State) worries that religious liberals may inadvertently emulate the religious right by seeking to impose religiously-driven political views on the rest of society, and thereby become “left-wing theocrats.” How do you explain to voters how you relate your values to politics and public policy? If I ever felt that my role as an elected offi…