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A Reforming Tradition Struggles With Change

By Brent Hege

…on and are taking public steps to leave the ELCA or to remain with certain reservations. A dissenting group called Lutheran CORE (formerly Coalition for Reform, now Coalition for Renewal) met in assembly in September of 2009 to discuss the possibility of forming a new Lutheran church body in North America. Those discussions resulted in the announcement of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), which will include disaffected “confessional” Luth…

Russian Attack on LGBTs at UN Rejected; Gay Cake Controversy Rages in N. Ireland; Bishop Calls for Marriage Referendum in Puerto Rico; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…e one hand, and making illegal torture due to sexual orientation with some reservations on the other, raise serious concerns regarding Iran’s will to implement the recommendations,” she added. “Unfortunately, no mechanisms are in place to monitor the implementation of this decision.” Justice for Iran Executive Director Shadi Sadr said, “We call on the members of civil society to follow up on recommendations as made by Ireland, Denmark and the Neth…

How Mormonism Built Glenn Beck

By Joanna Brooks

…on cult crusades of the 1980s) are increasingly willing to set aside their reservations about Mormons when it suits their pragmatic and political interests. Glenn Beck marks an unprecedented national mainstreaming of a peculiar strand of religious political conservatism rooted in, and once isolated to, the Mormon culture regions of the American West. That Mormons are capable of leveraging disproportionate political influence with decisive results…

What if Israel Were in Germany? An Alternate History

By Haroon Moghul

…mentalists from the Rocky Mountain Independent Territories hijack four jet planes and fly them into buildings in Baghdad and Riyadh. In retaliation, the Arabs capture Denver and shoot up the surrounding countryside, but after failing to locate the terrorist mastermind, they decide to open a second front in the now global War on Terror. The obvious target would be the Evangelical Republic of Texas, which supplied the hijackers with their passports,…

Workers Once Forced the Social Gospel Into Churches—Can It Happen Again?

By Eric C. Miller

…c hierarchy was less prone to such nativist excesses and yet harbored deep reservations of its own about organized labor. Even as the Vatican articulated growing support for unions in encyclicals such as Rerum Novarum, many a prelate worried that they might prove a gateway out of the Church and into the clutches of godless radicalism. This tale of churchly opposition to the early labor movement is a relatively familiar one. What’s new in Union Mad…

By the Way: Fractured Religious Right Endorses McCain

By Randall Balmer

…of discussion, and to no one’s surprise, the group decided to shelve their reservations about John McCain and endorse him in the fall campaign. “The alternative is so bad,” Phyllis Schlafly declared, “we must support John McCain.” The meeting was called by Mathew Staver, dean of the law school at Liberty University. Those in attendance included Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values in Ohio, Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther Ki…

America, Religious Values, and the Death Penalty; Or, If it Was Good Enough for Jesus and Socrates…

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…h potential juror how they felt about the death penalty; any who expressed reservations were excused, even though only five of them had said that they would under no circumstances consider the penalty. The majority of US Supreme Court justices concluded that “the State of Illinois has stacked the deck against the petitioner,” and that in so doing it had violated the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee that US citizens cannot be deprived of life, liberty,…

Exploiting Health Care Debate to Restrict Abortion?

By Evan Derkacz

…ral workers, women in the military and women who get health care on Indian reservations funding for abortion, would be reflected in the health care package. Unfortunately, the good will shown by the pro-choice community has not been met with a good-faith effort by Wallis and his friends. They now hope to use the president’s promise as a way to press for further restrictions on abortion coverage in the final health care legislation. As one moderate…

I Volunteer to Root Out Christian Extremism

By Peter Laarman

…tary Johnson, you are likewise entirely right to expect that any remaining reservations about Homeland Security’s Countering Violent Extremism program should melt away in the face of the new urgency. Today, of course, we are also more aware of the Colorado Springs shooter’s mindset in deciding to become a “warrior for the babies” and thereupon shooting up the Planned Parenthood facility. Robert Dear is a Christian, but he is a Christian who seems…

Evangelicals Struggle With the Role of Churches in Society

By Omri Elisha

…rns for the welfare of society, many conservative evangelicals harbor deep reservations about supporting any programs that seem to deprioritize evangelism or run the risk of becoming too liberal or too secular. Socially engaged evangelicals counteract those concerns by insisting that faith-based activism can ideally be a vehicle for greater evangelism, not a distraction from it. But they often face strong ideological resistance and logistical cons…