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Same-Sex Marriage: Good for Marriage, Good for the Pocketbook

…pparently to blame for the decrepit state of marriage in the United States today, and giving recognition to the nuptials we will soon celebrate will only hasten the demise of this esteemed institution. That’s the gist, anyway, of Bishop Harry Jackson’s open letter to President Obama, urging him to prevent the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA. Jackson, a vocal opponent of marriage equality and senior pastor of Hope Christian Churc…

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The Racist Message of Do-Nothing Religion, Courtesy of Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

…placency with racialized religious privilege that has come to characterize today’s Republican Party? It depends, of course, on what (or who) you mean by “America.” And what you mean by “God.” Not to mention what it means to “turn to God,” or to “heal racism.” The devil’s in the details, and paraphrased headlines are often misleading. What Patrick actually said in his Fox News interview is that to address racism in American culture, we need to “cha…

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Religious Freedom Gets Hollywood Treatment

…cided with the Congress’ hurried alteration to the Constitution to expland freedom of belief to include freedom of conscience, Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the cristero stronghold of Guanajuato state, and a papal flyover (in the presidential helicopter) around the Cristo Rey monument near León. (Mexicans go to the polls on July 1.) The U.S. also stands in need of the film’s message right now, according to Barroso: “The movie is about conscience. No o…

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Pastor of Kentucky Church Severed From Baptists Over LGBT Inclusion: Not Activism, Just Honesty

…the spiritual home for many students, staff, and distinguished professors. Today the 800-member church is a diverse community of faith including people of various races, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation, and world-views. Refugees and immigrants compose roughly one-third of the congregation. The church is heavily invested in a wide array of social ministries in the Commonwealth, the U.S., and the world. Below are excerpts from a conversation…

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Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World

…“Christ figure.” In the immortal words of Woody Allen, “If Jesus came back today and saw what was going on in his name, he wouldn’t stop throwing up.” It is safe to say that Allen’s comments can be applied to a lot of religious film criticism. Did you have a specific audience in mind when writing? As with the above point the main audience is, I hope, students. I tried to write this in an accessible way, introducing key themes in religious studies…

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Southern Baptists Embrace Minorities, but Not Gays

…bout themselves today. Eleven years after the denomination apologized to African-Americans for supporting segregation and slavery, it elected a black man as its first vice president of the convention—“the highest position yet held by an African-American” in the denomination, the New York Times notes. Fred Luter Jr. pastors a largely black church in New Orleans and is apparently an “overwhelming favorite to be elected president at the assembly next…

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Perry’s Challenge to Bachmann for Religious Right Vote

…explored in a piece for the Daily Beast in June), particularly his role in promoting homeschooling, Lizza gives short shrift to Rushdoony, who is not only a “prominent Dominionist,” as Lizza describes him, but the founder of Christian Reconstructionism and Titus’ inspiration. And, as Julie Ingersoll has detailed on numerous occasions, “Christian Reconstructionist founder Rousas John Rushudoony is often called the father of the Christian homeschool…

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2010: What Did We Believe In?

…revelations that he had a love child out of wedlock. 2. War Not Peace: America has historically been a war-loving and militaristic country, but this last year’s continued involvement in Afghanistan marked the longest war in the nation’s history. What are the costs? Thousands of American lives lost, trillions of dollars spent, international reputation shot to hell, psychological instability of returning veterans with unprecedented numbers committi…

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Death of a Self-Proclaimed God-Man: Sai Baba’s Controversial Career

…o did his financial worth. In 1972 the Satya Sai Central Trust was set up. Today the trust is estimated to be worth at least $8.9 billion. It has funded water supply projects in poor areas of southern India as well as ashrams, hospitals, universities, and several schools across India and globally. Sai Baba was most famous for his miracles—mainly materializations of valuable objects. He is believed to have had the power to conjure jewelry as gifts…

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The Byzantine Bush Tell-All

…ay What Happened, the Scott McClellan memoir, makes for some chilling historical connections; the Bush White House as “Animal House.” But to read these texts in tandem in Italy today, and then to listen to Italian political philosopher Giorgio Agamben put many of these same points with theoretical elegance and clarity is harrowing. The “state of exception,” Agamben warns us, has now become the rule. In a post-9/11 world, the rule of law has culmin…

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