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Exclusive: Columnist Jonathan Merritt on his Sudden Departure From Religion News Service

By Kaya Oakes

…nto argument. Half an hour later, MacDonald emailed Merritt a “numerated list of questions” about Merritt’s journalistic ethics—have you ever been paid by a publisher for coverage of a book, etc—which Merritt told him was upsetting. Merritt answered no to all the questions and sent MacDonald questions of his own for several days without receiving a reply. Then, on Thursday June 28th, he finally received “a note saying you’ve been terminated, effec…

Behind a Recent Stunt in Idaho Lies a Dangerous Theocratic Movement

By Chrissy Stroop

…t—or between the godly and the godless—or between the libertarians and the statists—or between the individualists and the collectivists.” (This “American Redoubt” just happens to overlap quite neatly with the decades-old neo-nazi separatist project known as the “Northwest Territorial Imperative.”) Not coincidentally, at the June 23 session, Scott stated, “I truly believe a civil war is coming if we do not put an end to what we are seeing.” Meanwhi…

The Pope in My Pocket; We Are All Dilettantes Now

By Michael A. Elliott

…or sell for under two dollars). And unlike the internet, the space of the iPhone feels not just private, but personal. Yes, the iPhone might be my means of connection with the world—it is, after all, a phone—but it is also my own little password-locked garden that I carry with me wherever I go. Moreover, I can remake the landscape with a few flicks of my fingers whenever I choose. As a result, the territory necessarily mixes the sacred and the pro…

On Pi Day, Puzzling Over the Most Famous Transcendental Number

By Ilana E. Strauss

…the only math object that goes back to the history of clay tablets that’s still studied seriously, 4,000 years later.” Pi draws attention not just on its own, but inside equations. For instance, it’s is an essential part of Euler’s identity, eiπ+1=0, an equation which commonly tops “greatest equations ever” polls. Euler’s identity combines the two most important transcendental numbers with i, which equals the square-root of -1. Leonhard Euler was…

The March for Life: Grassroots Movement or Agitprop?

By Patricia Miller

…r’s march won’t come close to the numbers of the Women’s March, despite guest stars like VP Mike Pence. With only about 100 buses permitted for the city, compared to 1,800 for the Women’s March, organizers are suddenly claiming it’s not about the numbers after all. March for Life President Jeanne Mancini told the Times: I don’t think that these numbers are the most important. The number most important for us is 58 million, which is the number of A…

From Shofars to Hammers: The Spiritual Warriors of MAGA are ‘ReAwakening’ to Political Violence

By Mark Clatterbuck

…any big surprises when I bought my ticket to see some of the NAR’s brightest stars at the ReAwaken rally when it swept through my hometown. I was wrong. While forays into national politics and spiritual warfare rhetoric have long marked the NAR movement, the degree to which the dominionist theology of NAR has co-opted far-right political extremism, conspiracy theory culture, and open calls for violence is both a novel and dangerous development. A…

Beyond ‘Thoughts and Prayers’: How the Christian Right’s Politics of Providentialism Keeps America from Addressing Gun Violence

By Chrissy Stroop

…nto a violent and ultimately nihilistic politics, one that puts greater trust in a strict top-down hierarchy than in democracy or the rule of law. As a survivor of this inherently abusive, authoritarian kind of Christianity, I am convinced that the void they are really afraid of is the one in their own inner lives. Unfortunately, until they are defeated politically, we are stuck with the devastating social consequences of their political externali…

Methodists Move Toward LGBT Inclusion

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…and lesbian ministers, I issued a challenge to the Methodist Church, the last mainstream denomination holding out on full acceptance of LGBT people. It seems there were already Methodists taking up the challenge to make their denomination more welcoming. Just days after the Presbyterians moved to approve gay and lesbian clergy, the Washington Post reported that “the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church narrowly approved a…

Religious Right Dream of Privatized Public Education Gets Boost

By Julie Ingersoll

…nt of vouchers is lower than the actual cost of vouchers due to additional state infrastructure costs. New Jersey Governor Christie has now announced his own far-reaching plans to transform New Jersey public education by closing “failing” schools and replacing them with charter schools. Charter schools are taxpayer funded (at least in part) but not accountable to elected school boards that represent those who pay for them. “This is the fight,” he…

Is the Ryan VP Pick Good for Mormonism?

By Joanna Brooks

…50 point plan for getting rid of social security? What role do you think Mormonism will play if any in the Romney biopic they’ll screen at the RNC in Tampa? I’m seeing Mormon pioneer covered wagons turning into Nash Ramblers. I’m seeing a young hardworking man who volunteered to serve amidst a strange and troublesome anti-American people—the French. Wasn’t he earnest? Wasn’t that difficult? And the important leadership lessons he learned helped hi…