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Harry Reid vs. Islamic Cultural Center

By Joanna Brooks

…t’s not a proud day for freedom of religion when a prominent member of the number two most disliked major religion in America effectively sides against a honest project by the number one most disliked major religion in America. Especially when Mormons have just recently come through our own years-long struggle to build an LDS temple in Center City Philadelphia after Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter tried to extract a six-figure sum from the Churc…

Is Army’s New “Humanist” Designation Just Semantic Hooey?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…he ACLU—reported that nearly 97% of military chaplains are Christian (63% Evangelical), while Christian service members make up 70% of the population. Currently no Humanist or Atheist chaplains approved for military service, though MAAF reports that there are a number of Atheist and Humanist chaplain assistants. The DOD’s ruling this week may, thus, have a meaningful impact on the free expression of religious identity for the reported 3.6% of se…

Can the Catholic Church Survive Trump?

By Patricia Miller

…ops encouraged their flock to side with the Republican Party. Unlike some evangelicals, however, the Catholic bishops did manage to maintain some semblance of a cross-party policy agenda because of the church’s progressive positions on the death penalty, refugees and immigrants, social welfare programs, and its preference for peace over war. Over time, however, as the Reagan-era GOP coalition frayed and mainstream Republicans were eclipsed, the bi…

Are You There God? It’s Us, Googling

By Michael Schulson

…irst hit was a sponsored result for the website of David Jeremiah, a conservative evangelical preacher in California. Do these websites actually shape people’s responses to deep theological questions? Can search results and search engine optimization influence the beliefs of an individual confronting a difficult question? It’s hard to tell. But as people go online for answers to religious questions, fundamentalist and fringe religious groups do ha…

Too Late for Apologies: Three Steps the U.S. Bishops Should Take to Prevent Another Sexual Abuse Scandal

By Grant Gallicho

…USCCB can do about it—apart from suggest they mend their ways. Could the Vatican intervene? Certainly. But when it comes to disciplining bishops, Rome tends to move slowly. It is loath to seem cavalier about usurping a bishop’s authority in his own diocese; although there have been notable exceptions involving bishops with a liberal streak, such as Bishop Jacques Gaillot of Évreux, France, and Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle. And did…

A Debate Rages in India Over Conversion, Secularism, and “Spiritual Violence”

By Murali Balaji

…religion across India and the subcontinent. Perhaps more importantly, the vast majority of Hindus (and the vast majority of Indians) are not necessarily vested in religious identity politics, which usually manifest themselves most in the days and weeks ahead of local, state, or national elections. Perhaps more problematically for progressives who critique the normative role of religion in societies, religious politics in India isn’t necessarily a…

False Saviors: Trump, Cruz, and the Gospel of the Quick Fix

By Marcia Pally

…programs of redemption, make us feel so. Duress may begin as material deprivation or fear of deprivation. On Dec. 9 Pew reported that the middle class, once the largest, is the majority no longer; median middle class income has dropped 4% since 2000; four middle income jobs that accounted for 60% of employment in 1979 accounted for only 46% by 2012; and the number of persons not in the labor force is growing. While some are getting richer, the num…

And What of the Non-Jewish Jews?

By Shaul Magid

…ancestry generations ago, a Jewish spouse, Jewish friends etc. In terms of numbers, Jews by religion or no religion make up 2.2% of the U.S. population, but if you add “People with a Jewish affinity” it rises to 2.7%, so that this category of people who are not considered Jews by the Jewish community but identify as Jews is nearly 25% of the Jews by religion or no religion, those we conventionally call “Jews.” The fact that there are so many Ameri…

There’s Something Rotten in Ireland

By Haroon Moghul

…egy, which includes wondering if pro-Palestinian Israeli activists are motivated less by ideology and more by “sexual identity problems.” Seriously. Setting that kind of tone will probably only encourage more and more absurd statements. The recent post on Jesus seems especially insensitive, considering who it is being directed to and where it is apparently originating. A number of Palestinians are Christians, and that Christianity is of course tra…

First U.S. Visit of the Virgin Mary Confirmed in Wisconsin

By Lewis Wallace

…d from putting up pilgrims and selling food and wares. Then as today, approval by the Vatican involved both strict alignment with doctrine and a spotless personal record for anyone involved. Trends in official sainthood have changed over time based on who best represents the political and theological interests of the Vatican. Still, the Catholic Church tends not to uphold stringent regulations on folk devotion. Most apparitions, miracles, and sain…