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A Nazi, a Jewish Prisoner, and a “Magic” Bible, Or, Christian Romance Fiction Gone Very, Very Wrong

By Julia Seymour

…e that romance between a Jewish prisoner and a Nazi commander violates any spirit of consent. In the portions of the book when Stella/Hadassah wrestles with her feelings about Aric, I was reminded of the guilt rape survivors sometimes feel when their bodies responded to the act of violation in a different way than their heads and spirits were. No matter how humane the Nazi in question was made to seem—he had the power to kill her or those she love…

Kentucky Court Clerk, A “Professing Apostolic Christian,” Questions Legal Authority

By Sarah Posner

…re literal interpreters of the Bible,” Butler said.* That the Bible is the number one authority, Butler added, “would’ve been drummed into her since she was a little girl.” So how did Davis become the center of a national firestorm? That has a lot to do with how the legal advocates who share Davis’s belief that the Bible, not civil law, is the ultimate authority, took that belief to court. For the long historical view, it’s useful to read Julie In…

Is It OK To Use a Cellphone in Church? Pew Surveys the New Etiquette

By Michael Schulson

…echnology, and culture, the report offers two insights–one about religious services, and one about the difficulties of studying etiquette through surveys. It’s “Generally Not OK,” But… One part of the Pew study asked respondents to gauge the appropriateness of using cellphones in various places, including whether it is “generally okay or not okay for people to use their cellphones…at church or [a] worship service.” A full 96% of those surveyed cho…

Kim Davis, County Clerk, is Not a Person

By Ivan Strenski

…,” the use for which you have to pay what he demands on top of the cost of service. Tony’s “businesses” are very personal things, part of himself. And, thinking this way about public offices is precisely what defines “corruption” means. Flip the coin, and just as Kim Davis does not own the County clerkship, despite her mother having served in it before her, Kim’s private property, say, her body, does not belong to the state. The temptation is grea…

Not Ready to Forgive: Hillary Clinton & the Ugly Truth of the Reagan Years

By Peter Laarman

…ut Hillary? Hillary also violated the second rule of funerals and memorial services. The first rule, of course, is never to speak ill of the dead. But the second and equally important rule is that you don’t make shit up, either. You don’t invent an alternative fantasy life for the person whose remains lie in that coffin. If the deceased is actually a disreputable character, you are allowed to mumble nice generalities, but that’s the extent of it….

Philly Gives Doctors Wide Leeway with Religious Exemption

By Patricia Miller

…iders with religious objections to “redirect” patients who ask for a given service to appropriate sources in a “nonjudgmental fashion.” While the policy ensures that patients who ask about contraception will receive some type of referral, formal or not, it still falls far short of the current standard of care for adolescent patients. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend that…

Sympathy for the Devils: I Was a Pastor to Trump Supporters

By Daniel Schultz

…or, who resigned suddenly from burnout after years of dedication to social service ministry throughout the city. It left a hole in their faith that nothing could ever quite fill, and cemented their resolve to stamp out change wherever they found it. They were literally not interested in learning to sing a new song. It provoked too much anxiety. None of this is to excuse their behavior, which was often sour, mean-spirited, or entitled. But I knew w…

A Pandemic isn’t a War, But Recognizing What They Share May Help us Heal

By Zachary Moon

…the wider stress. Shelter-in-place is not only a civic duty; it’s a psycho-spiritual-emotional condition. When we scramble to find the last available package of toilet paper, we’re committing the perfect demonstration of our most basic concern: “hey, with all this going on, I’m just worried about my a–” The scale of this trauma could turn us ultimately in a different direction: toward collective concern for our neighbors and the interrelated globa…

Times’ Link of NOI With Capitol Killer is Based on Flawed Comparison Between Rightwing Christian Nationalism and Black Religious Nationalism

By A. E. Brooks-Key

…While Louis Farrakhan’s history of anti-Semitic statements are fair game, posing him and the Nation of Islam as incubators of anti-government violence is simply not borne out by the religious group’s history. This type of reporting does a disservice to combatting actual extremism and anti-government violence. In addition, the life, service, and memory of Capitol Police Officer William “Billy” F. Evans deserve better treatment than being used as f…

Alabama’s Yoga Ban Is Part of the Christian Right’s War on Pluralism

By Manisha Sunil

…most foundational freedom—in service of a conservative Christian agenda. In 1993, the state’s Board of Education voted to prohibit yoga, hypnosis and meditation in public schools, stemming from conservative pressure. The current bill, which is now moving to the state’s Senate, would allow the practice of yoga in classes, but still forbid chanting, mantras, and the use of “namaste,” a Sanskrit salutation. To an extent, I agree with the latter part…