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How Long Before Trump Claims ‘Religious Freedom’ to Avoid Paying Taxes?

By Sunnivie Brydum

…’s 1995 tax returns indicated that the billionaire reported a $916 billion net loss that year, which, experts estimate, means he could have essentially avoided paying taxes for 18 years. Trump managed to pull off that financial sleight of hand without any kind of religious exemption. So it’s only reasonable to expect that, with Pence whispering sweet “religious liberty” nothings into the president-elect’s ear, Trump will continue to take advantage…

Pew Finds Trump-Era Increase in the ‘Evangelical’ Label — And Yes, They’re ‘Real’ Evangelicals

By Chrissy Stroop

…me group of people polled after both the 2016 and the 2020 elections, is a net four percent increase in white Americans who identified as born again or evangelical over that time period, with the increase apparently driven by favorable attitudes toward Donald Trump. That’s an interesting finding, but it simply doesn’t sustain the conclusion that “evangelicals have exchanged religion for power,” as one writer summarized Charles M. Blow’s commentary…

Trump Order A ‘Death Sentence’ For Some LGBT Refugees? Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…re center-left economic policy that supports France’s robust social safety net — is pulling voters from left-wing constituencies to her side. Courting LGBT voters remains a high-wire act, because beneath Le Pen’s march to victory is a simmering internal battle that could build into a true revolt from within. If she does pull it off and win the presidency, Marine Le Pen would upend not just French politics, but potentially the politics of all of We…

Civil Religion v. Uncivil Religion; With Deadly Consequences

By Daniel Schultz

…ch of ourselves, into a phenomenological approach: sometimes religion is a net positive. Sometimes it is not. Much of the time, it’s a confusing muddle. We try to look at it from many different angles, not to praise it or kill it, but mostly just to observe it for what is and how it is lived, whether good, bad, or weird. Ordinarily, we would not ask you to judge between two competing religious practices. I certainly have no interest in weighing in…

Churches Don’t Feed People, People Feed People

By Brie Loskota

…engage in the policy advocacy more directly, joining community organizing networks and developing relationships with elected officials to shape the public processes that impact their lives. But does every congregation? What is the real capacity of congregations as a whole? Can they provide adequate social services? Can they actually replace government services or deliver them better? Many congregations that deliver services often do so not on th…

A desolate road in Israel lined with security fencing.

Decadence, Sickness, and Death: Mourning and the Israel-Hamas War

By Shaul Magid

…y founded on the principles of solidarity and cooperation, a social safety net, and the aspiration to be the “most moral army in the world.” Remember the old IDF adage “shooting and crying” (yorim u bokim), to illustrate the necessity of war and the moral conscience that remains. A democracy, albeit flawed, but one that included a meaningful movement with a sincere belief that coexistence was possible. Peace Now, founded in 1978 to promote a genui…

Christian Health Sharing Ministries Aren’t All Corrupt — But Here’s Why They Are a Problem

By Chrissy Stroop

…d as public goods. Here in the United States, of course, the social safety net is already grossly inadequate, and private health insurance still costs too much and covers too little. Why would people want to leave themselves even less protected? The answer is, in a word, ideology. To be more specific, the problem is a right-wing authoritarian ideology in which it’s considered ideal to force people to depend on their families, churches, “God,” and…

Leaked ‘Freedom Convoy’ Donor Comments Clearly Demonstrate Christian Nationalist Presence

By Thomas Lecaque

…I PROMISE. MAY GOD BE BESIDE YOU AS YOU STAND FOR EVERY CITIZEN OF THIS PLANET, ESPECIALLY ALSO FOR 1ST WORLD AUSTRALIA, SHARING IN YOUR OPPRESSION SO MUCH, -AND EVEN MORE SO!” The reference to crusaders, to striking evil forces, is very close to an active call for violence. Another, from Iowa City, Iowa, writes, “As Archbishop Vigano has confirmed, this crusade by the Canadian Truckers is the spearhead of God on earth to bring down the Deep State…

Authoritarian SCOTUS Didn’t ‘Just Happen’: As Roe Hangs By a Thread the Press Struggles with Context and Framing

By Chrissy Stroop

…America when the church would establish a kind of Christian social safety net where motherhood was not only supported but also exalted as part of God’s plan for the universe.” The article makes only one brief mention of the pervasive abuse that has been, and still is, associated with such institutions, downplaying it as something that “sometimes” happened. In many American states, institutions like this can use their Christian affiliation as a ge…

A New Book By Esteemed Sociologist Robert Wuthnow Struggles to Show ‘Why Religion is Good for American Democracy’

By Peter Laarman

…ve scoring for religion, but also a few points on the plus side make for a net positive overall. He moves on to consider freedom of conscience, where it can certainly be argued that religious groups—mainly the dissident ones—did in fact make some degree of conscientious objection possible in the midst of raging war fever during both the First and Second World Wars. Wuthnow doesn’t dwell on the religious voices that were baying for the objectors to…