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Mitt’s Jesus, Barack’s Jesus, and Why Christ’s Color Matters

By Joanna Brooks

…ant point, in this case, is how racial perspectives are tied to political, military, and social issues: socialism, war, and health care. Regarding Obama versus Romney and their takes on Jesus, President Obama has made it very clear that the golden rule is an animating principle of his politics. He has invoked it in his writings and in his explanation of why he now supports same-sex marriage. In this regard, he follows a long history of abolitionis…

Killer Buddhists

By Joanna Piacenza

…g and imagery on this violence might have to do with Myanmar’s suppressive military rule and seemingly endless civil war, which just ended last year, it might have to do with the fact that no one wants to see a Buddhist committing a crime. Buddhists are peaceful, warm, accepting, cross-legged men wearing funny, exotic robes. Buddhists meditate. They are hermetic. They practice yoga—the kind without spandex. Their Western-identified religious leade…

The Jewish Vote, Part Infinity

By Sarah Posner

…him for his stance on same-sex marriages, gays and lesbians serving in the military, and general anti-inclusive beliefs. The letter reads, in part: Four years ago you came into our family. We still remember the excitement surrounding your wedding, and how happy our family members were as they described it afterwards. So we were deeply saddened when you announced during your October 18th debate with Senator Sherrod Brown that you believe only some…

The Speech Mitt Romney Never Gave

By Joanna Brooks

…ave served faithfully in the American communities where we live, in the US military, and in the United States Congress. And we have struggled—as every community in this nation struggles—to live up to our ideals. Like every community in the U.S., our history includes chapters of racial exclusion that we have renounced and that we continue to work to put behind us. We have been willing to examine ourselves and move on. Because we know we are still w…

David Petraeus as King David

By Sarah Posner

…before all of that, we discussed Mike Huckabee’s comparison of David Petraeus to King David (as in the biblical King David). Watch:…

From Confusion to Kardashian: Misreading the Middle East

By Haroon Moghul

…instead of voting no, as it was expected to. Hence an undisputed Israeli military victory was also a diplomatic defeat. Writing for the London Review of Books, Adam Shatz explained Israel didn’t win the short war. (How Gazans saw it deserves consideration.) Britain and France have even mooted withdrawing their ambassadors in protest at continued Israeli settlement construction. In the aftermath of all this, the United States—Israel’s strongest a…

Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War

By Haroon Moghul

…g even atheist defectors recognize. Practically speaking, religion’s had a number of roles. First, it’s the most potent rallying cry. Nationalism doesn’t have the same appeal as other parts of the Arab world, because nationalist slogans are a mainstay of the ruling Baath party, and religious rhetoric also gives the revolution a higher purpose. Likewise, secularism is associated with the Assad regime, and is thus tainted by the regime’s authoritari…

Mitt, Moochers, and Mormonism’s “Other” Legacy

By Mary Barker

…the move. Any large, powerful organization of global reach (except the US military) is suspect. La Verkin, Utah, for example, passed an ordinance in 2001 making it a “United Nations-free zone” (the UN being a “sign of the times” and a horrendous mistake that Skousen thought we should rectify). The law banned the UN from La Verkin and required anyone collaborating with it to file an annual report and post a sign in the window stating, “United Nati…

Obama Inaugural Address Challenges Tea Party History

By Julie Ingersoll

…s calls on us to “live to make men free.” Yet even with regard to the way military force has been central to what it means to be American, the president presented a new narrative, asserting that “peace and lasting security do not mean we are in a state of perpetual war.” One of the most important ways in which the tea party and the religious right make the claim that America is a Christian nation, despite the absence of religion in the Constituti…

Atheist Rock Fest, Buddhist Geeks, Megachurch For Sale, Church Bans Fried Chicken

By Michael J. Altman

…urch.” Mark Silk traces the new prevalence of “for God and country” in the military and somehow brings Dolly Parton into it. From the file of new studies: people become more religious during hard times and are happier during periods of difficulty, restrictions on religious belief and practice are on the rise globally, and the more educated may become more religious. “Hello, Buddhist geeks!” In the Phillipines, officials at a state-run cultural cen…