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Prosperity Gospel Prayers Aren’t Sufficient to Save Hurricane Victims

By Tony Keddie

…orgiven, confiscated properties are returned, and slaves and prisoners are freed. Osteen’s interpretation turns Jesus’s vision of legal, structural relief for the marginalized into a call for human self-improvement. Laurie and White-Cain present two prevalent views of free will that are often used to support Republican opposition to what they call “Big Government.” Whether believers are supposed to rely more on God or themselves as a hurricane des…

How Will We Teach About Sikhism After the Tragedy?

By Laurie Patton

…of radical hospitality: every visitor to the temple is fed in the “guru’s free kitchen.” Langar is based on the idea, begun by Nanak Dev, the first Sikh guru, that feeding and clothing people is the most fundamental human transaction of all. To feed people is seva—voluntary, selfless service. A Sikh community in Medford, Massachusetts, Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar, is typical of many Sikh places of worship in this tradition of hospitality. On Sunda…

Day of (Anti-Bullying) Silence Shows “Pro-Family” Activists to be Anti-Gay Bullies

By Julie Ingersoll

…to today’s Day of Silence is another example of the twisted logic in which free speech rights (or in this case the right to say something by not speaking) belong to conservative Christians and no one else. But even more bizarre, in service of their obsessive anti-gay agenda, this example puts “pro-family” activists in the unenviable position of opposing opposition to school bullying. The twelfth annual Day of Silence “is a student-led national eve…

The Higher the Dome, The Closer to God: “Megachurches” Explores the Arid Architecture of America’s New Sanctuaries

By Anita Little

…I swiped from the visitors’ table. (Catholics churches should step up the free swag factor.) Now driving through Northeast Los Angeles, I pass about half a dozen churches of sundry shapes and sizes. Some are storefront establishments, others steepled behemoths you can spot from the 110. Some are older and rooted, like the Iglesia Pentecostal Esmirna, others newer, like the recently planted Gold Line Church, named for the metro light rail that run…

Rubio’s Awkward Balancing Act Between Evangelicals and Catholics

By Patricia Miller

…issues, particularly abortion, with equally strong support for Republican free-market economic policies. Many of these conservative Catholics, especially those in the public eye, have become more outspoken in asserting a “gospel-centered”, biblical morality in the public square as central to their Catholicism. This is a departure from more conventional notions of Catholicism that focus on private religious practice and charitable works. Rubio’s a…

The Myth of the ‘Lone Wolf’ Shooter Blinds Us to the Reality of White Supremacy

By Ivan Strenski

…ect the innocent against the exploitation of freedom of speech. Unlike the free speech orator holding forth on their soap box in Times Square, those networked on social media enjoy a robust social existence, despite never even “meeting’ on FaceTime. They just don’t launch a random lone opinion or two, they publish and distribute information worldwide at the touch of a key. They exchange, interact and communicate with one another. What they publish…

Palin Bus Tour Like Gideon’s Fleece

By Anthea Butler

…that the Tea Party and her conservative faith stand for: the Constitution, free markets, loving the troops, and oh yes, “loving the smell of emissions.” While most families are scaling back their summer vacations, SarahPAC is paying for Palin’s homage to her version of the history of America. Her rapid-fire tours of historical sites is like the attention deficit syndrome version of American history. All photo ops and quick sound bites about energy…

With the End of ‘Roe’ the Verdict is in: The Supreme Court Majority is Christian Nationalist

By Andrew L. Seidel

…n’t overturn any public health laws for other First Amendment rights, like free assembly and free speech. The religion of the justices also seems to play a decisive role in these decisions. According to the abstract of one study, for example: The Roberts Court has ruled in favor of religious organizations far more frequently than its predecessors—over 81% of the time, compared to about 50% for all previous eras since 1953. In most of these cases,…

A Better Form of Atheism: Rescuing the Christian Tradition from Religion

By Emily Manuel

…ts context and basically treats all suffering as though it’s equivalent to freely assumed suffering by a nonviolent protestor. We can never say suffering is inherently one thing, it always takes place within a certain context that determines what its language should be. There should be more recognition of the damage that language of redemption brings to people’s lives too. Does that mean we should evaluate suffering on a case-by-case basis? Yes, w…

NC’s Gay Marriage Ban: “It’s Going to Hurt the Church”

By Nicole Greenfield

…hing of a “toxic and counterfeit gay-affirming gospel” to being injured by the church as a child. “In some ways he’s right,” Bakker told me in response. “It’s called empathy.” He continued: “Every time someone accuses me of cheap grace, I go back and say no, it’s free grace. Grace is free. The reason I understand the Bible the way I do is probably because I interpret through the pain that I’ve been through. But it’s not me compromising. I know wha…