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Why Christian Fundamentalism Is Still a Big Deal in U.S. Politics, And How It Got That Way

By Eric C. Miller

When Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced his presidential candidacy this spring he urged conservative voters to claim their power—”I want to ask each of you to imagine, imagine millions of courageous conservatives, all across America, rising up together to say in unison ‘we demand our liberty.’” This rhetorical move, in which conservative Christians are cast as both oppressed minority and a latent majority, is a timeworn trope. But recognizing this…

Did the Duggars’ Fundamentalism Cause Sexual Abuse? Not So Fast

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…ly.) One of my favorite informal fallacies to teach students is called the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy. The story goes that a fellow shot a bunch of times at the side of an old barn, then painted bullseyes around each bullet hole and proclaimed himself a marksman. The marksman’s folly is easy to see in the story, but a bit more difficult to recognize in real life when we come across things that seem to happen more than chance should allow… such as…

The Religious Roots of American Environmentalism

By Lauren Sutton

…Religion and the Rise of American Environmentalism, Stoll, a professor at Texas Tech University, explores the religious roots of environmentalist concepts of nature. Doing so, he challenges the preconception that conservationism and religion are inherently hostile towards each other. Stoll documents the role of Calvinism, Congregationalism, and Presbyterianism in the creation of our national parks, forestry, and conservation efforts. He shows how…

In Marriage Decision, An Ode to Love and Four Provocations

By Sarah Posner

…marriages between couples of different races, and, of course, Lawrence v. Texas, which in 2003 struck down anti-sodomy laws, and United States v. Windsor, which invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act ten years later. Kennedy answered conservative claims that marriage equality would undermine the institution of marriage, arguing that “far from seeking to devalue marriage, the petitioners seek it for themselves because of their respect—and need—fo…

Justice v. Revenge: The Question Beneath the Question of Prison Reform

By Xarissa Holdaway

…ion doesn’t sound so different from today’s correctional institutions. The number of mentally ill inmates is on the rise, as public psychiatric institutions lose funding. Buildings are overcrowded and under-maintained. Rehabilitation and substance-abuse programs are chronically underfunded. Debt imprisonment no longer exists, but the burden still falls disproportionately on the marginalized: discriminatory policies throughout the justice system me…

Why it (Still) Makes Little Sense to Call ISIS Islamic

By Haroon Moghul

…y department at Bayyinah, an Islamic institute of higher learning based in Texas, confirmed this to me in an extensive conversation on Islam, slavery and sexual consent. “Rape is violence,” Suleiman made clear, “and Islamic scholars have even classified it as muharabah, as war against the community,” the maximal (hadd) punishment for which, he noted, was more severe than adultery. Indeed, it qualified as a capital crime, indicating that the crime…

Why Kim Davis Has Missed Her Moment

By Sarah Posner

…reported yesterday. Writing on the Fox News website, Robert Jeffress, the Texas megachurch pastor who in 2011 called Mormonism a “cult,” maintains, “No Evangelical I know is expecting Trump to lead our nation in a spiritual revival.” But, he goes on, President Barack Obama has “drastically lowered the threshold of spiritual expectations Evangelicals have of their president. No longer do they require their president to be one of them. Evangelicals…

Religion in Real Time on CNN’s “Believer”: A Conversation with Reza Aslan

By Kaya Oakes

…in New York, and there are lots of them throughout Arizona and Nevada and Texas. So for those people out there who want to write a PhD in religion, pick this one: you’re watching in real time the creation and spread of a new global religion primarily due to shifting migration patterns. That’s how Christianity became a global religion: people left the confines of the Roman Empire and took Christianity with them. That’s how Islam became a global re…

My Childhood Hobby Was Satanic, Or So They Told Me

By Joseph Laycock

…s Games? In the preface I’m very candid about my experiences growing up in Texas and being told that my favorite hobby is satanic. When grown-ups told me that playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) was going to drive me insane or cause me to worship the devil, it suddenly dawned on me that adults were fallible: They ran the schools, the churches, and the police, but they didn’t always think rationally or know what they were talking about. After that, I…

Because You’re Not Fooling Anyone: Why Trump Travel Ban 2.0 Still Unconstitutional

By Elizabeth Reiner Platt

…contrast, the Court in Van Orden v. Perry held that it was permissible for Texas to accept and display a Ten Commandments statue donated by a civic organization on the state capitol grounds, alongside 17 other monuments and 22 historical markers. In this case, there was no history indicating a legislative intent to endorse or advance religion. The history of Trump’s two Executive Orders recalls the counties’ efforts in McCreary to water down a rel…