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New Ex-Offender Program Puts Church Ahead Of State

By Mark Bergen

…nt funding, required inmate participants “to attend Bible study, Christian classes, and church services,” in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Alex Luchenitser, the lead litigator for Americans United in the case, wrote in a legal journal, “Inmates who did not subscribe to the program’s religious teachings faced discrimination and pressure to convert.” Despite legal challenges, PFM continued to minister in prisons and t…

Ian Buruma on the Political Excesses of Religion

By Lisa Webster

…—and the people offering the benefit are making money out of it. So it’s a business. And that’s very different from the traditional role of the Calvinists, or the Lutherans, or the Anglicans, or the Catholics. We know now that so-called prosperity preaching seemed to play a part in the real estate bust. People went to church and were told to buy things they couldn’t afford. I’m not surprised. Underlying that, of course, is a Protestant notion that…

Rand Paul: We Wouldn’t Need Laws If Everyone Were Christian

By Sarah Posner

…he 1964 Civil Rights Act need “further discussion” and may violate private business owners’ First Amendment rights, said that we wouldn’t really need laws in this country if everyone were a good Christian: I’m a Christian. We go to the Presbyterian Church. My wife’s a Deacon there and we’ve gone there ever since we came to town. I see that Christianity and values is the basis of our society. . . . 98% of us won’t murder people, won’t steal, won’t…

The Sordid Past of Ralph Reed

By Sarah Posner

…evangelical myself, I resent Christianity being used simply to help Reed’s business.” Irvin’s dart went straight to the heart of the matter. While grassroots organizing has been the key to lifting evangelicals to power in the GOP, the movement’s political model has mostly mirrored the traditional hierarchy of churches, with trusted leaders setting the tone and issuing marching orders to their foot soldiers. What if the generals—the Reeds and James…

Funding of Creationist Organizations Doubles

By Lauri Lebo

…tax records are available). Answers In Genesis remains the big boy in the business, far ahead of Creation Ministries International (from which AIG split a few years ago) and Institute for Creation Institute. AIG is the owner of the Kentucky-based Creation Museum, which features saddle-wearing dinosaurs and a recreation of Noah’s Ark built to biblical scale. Sadly, the gross revenue of National Center for Science Education, the primary defender of…

Evangelical Pastor Tests First Amendment Waters

By Randall Balmer

…sibly) that any such taxpayer-subsidized organization should not be in the business of endorsing political candidates. That’s the deal. Now if you persist in flouting the law, I invite you to do the honorable thing and surrender your church’s tax-exempt status. Then no one would quibble with your political endorsements. The other, more important reason that your appeal to Roger Williams is misguided, Rev. Williams, is that Roger Williams, founder…

Obama’s Religion Ambassador: Inexperienced?

By Anthea Butler

…nce, her close ties to the Clinton administration, and several ill-defined business ventures, suggest that President Obama cares little about supporting religious freedom around the world. As Mark Silk put it succinctly, “This is the Religion Ambassador?” The Washington Post is carefully tiptoeing around the question of Rev. Cook’s appointment, quoting the first Ambassador-at-Large, Thomas Farr, who called Cook an outstanding pastor, but also lame…

Mike Lee Wins Utah Senate Primary

By Joanna Brooks

…ridgewater tended to emphasize his integrity and capability as a self-made businessman. In the end, the race seemed to come down to who could be tarred as the more “establishment” candidate as well as who could play more effectively to the deeply Mormon Utah GOP. Lee supporters tried to paint Bridgewater as a professional lobbyist who made his fortune by procuring government contracts to fund private business ventures. They also made use of Bridge…

HuffPo Columnist Tries to Link Darwin to Hitler

By Lauri Lebo

Since its inception, the Huffington Post’s business model has been one based on providing decent political reporting and serving as a liberal news aggregate of content assembled from around the internet. But in addition to its main news page, it has also built its success on the idea that it will let just about anyone write for them as long as they’re willing to do it for free. In exchange for all this unpaid content, columnists are largely free…

What is a “Religious Progressive” Anyway?

By Daniel Schultz

…ro-government populism, not quite socialism, but the belief that “that the business of government was to serve the people.” The most lasting legacy of that commitment has been a higher education system at the forefront of economic development of the state, but there were other items on the agenda: Primary elections Worker’s compensation State regulation of the railroads Direct election of Senators Progressive taxation “A brat and a beer in every b…