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Bachmann Beats Palin at Christian Testimony

By Anthea Butler

…stian testimony for the “Pay to Pray” venues like Women of Joy in Oklahoma City this past April. Even then, she couldn’t muster up a clean narrative of her salvation, choosing rather to quote Max Lucado and Erma Brombeck. This is not the stuff of a Christian testimony. Palin has a credibility problem. By dragging her feet in deciding to get into the race, she’s left the door open for Bachmann and Rick Perry to take the Super Christian narrative aw…

Christian Militia Arrests and the Price of Violent Rhetoric (Plus: Rachel Maddow Video)

By Lauri Lebo

…that the second worst act of terrorism on American soil, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, had been committed not by people of Muslim faith, but by right-wing extremists with fair skin and light eyes. This, of course, doesn’t mean that the FBI should stop monitoring Muslim extremist groups for terrorist activities, but it means that simple-minded racial and religious profiling will not keep us safe. It also strikes home the reasonable assumption tha…

Text of Terror: A Bill Granting LGBT Citizens Equal Rights Evokes Biblical Citation

By Nick Street

…ord a prayer that had been delivered by an openly gay pastor from Oklahoma City’s Cathedral of Hope. That maneuver brings to mind a moment from the documentary “Eyes on the Prize” when a young black civil rights activist asks a white police officer to pray with him. “I don’t think your prayers get above your head,” the officer replies. Christian conservatives resist the notion that advocacy for gay and lesbian equality is a natural extension of th…

Bloomberg is Right to Say No to Muslim School Holidays

By Hussein Rashid

Recently, the New York City Council voted to recognize two Muslim holidays, Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha, as school holidays. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is threatening to veto the motion. He argues that the school year is too short already, and the one Council Member who voted against it sees it as a slippery slope to excessive holidays for every religious group. Although there are those who see this as a divide-and-conquer tactic, with Mayor Bloomberg…

Did We Drink the Kool-Aid in “Suicide Cult” Disappearance?

By Julie Ingersoll

…NRM scholar Stuart Wright, author of Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing, also commented to RD about the recent developments in California: The desire of the believers to retreat to the mountains to pray strikes me as an action firmly entrenched in the tradition of Christian asceticism. The rush to label the group as a ‘suicide cult’ probably says more about the mentality of law enforcement officials and sensational media than about…

Thank God for Atheists?

By Julie Ingersoll

Last week Rev. Michael Down spoke at three Oklahoma City churches. Scripture readings for the day included: Exodus 21:17: “Anyone who curses his mother or father must be put to death.” Psalms 137:8-9: “Oh daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the man who seizesyour babies and smashes their heads against the rocks.” His talk “Thank God for the New Atheists (PDF) proposes that the criticisms raised by Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris and ot…

What We Really Talk About When We Talk About Health Care

By Douglas Harrison

…rily echoing the kind of activity that preceded the run-up to the Oklahoma City bombing. It’s a chilling report, one suggesting that – without a step away from the brink – we may well look back at incidents such as the murder of George Tiller and the shootings at the Holocaust museum and see the beginnings of a resurgent vigilantism among religious extremists during the age of Obama. What’s this got to do with the health care debate? For starters,…

What to Wear When Praying with the Pope

By Donna Schaper

…ppur was Tuesday and Wednesday. We are saturated with religion in New York City, with a great rising. And yes, alternate side of the street parking was suspended all week. Like my skirt, parking is a kind of sacramental preoccupation for those of us hungry for larger epiphanies. Times Square has made a statue for the Pope, allowing kitsch to capture his kinetic spiritual power. The long meanings of the Pope’s visit remains to be seen. The interfai…

The Religious Right and the Tea Party on “Education Choice”

By Julie Ingersoll

…e open to anyone who wishes to attend, though there will be a limit on the number of schools (no more than ten in the next decade) and the number of students enrolled. Opponents see charter schools as quasi-privatized schools (and also fear that this is a first step toward further privatization). They see even these limited charter schools as a threat to funding for public education—especially in these difficult budget years where public education…

Pope Denounces Gender Colonization; Indonesian Court Considers Islamist Request To Criminalize Homosexuality; Egypt’s Grand Mufti Says No One Has Right to Harm Homosexuals; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…eing labeled something they are not simply because of their religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Khader is Muslim, his boyfriend is Jewish, and his two friends who are also featured followed in the movie are Palestinian Christians, but the movie does not focus on religion. “We are human,” says Khader, “We are not religious people. But for me, it’s super-important for me to say I’m Muslim because I want to show the world, the sheiks, the Mu…