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Steve Bannon and the Conservative “Cafeteria Catholics”

By Patricia Miller

…crisis of faith and morality, he has been divorced three times and to the best of many of his associates’ knowledge doesn’t attend church—pretty much the definition of a practicing Catholic. The conservative Catholic provocateur Austin Ruse, who has used his organization C-FAM to embed a conservative Catholic presence at the UN, described him to O’Loughlin as a “nonpracticing orthodox Catholic,” or “somebody who for whatever reason is not practic…

Mitt Romney Plays the Tin Man at the NAACP Convention

By Anthea Butler

…ere possible to fully communicate what I believe is in the real, enduring, best interest of African-American families, you would vote for me for president.” Well, Mitt, we really don’t understand who you truly are in your heart. You don’t know how to show us what’s really there. And If you can’t fully communicate what you believe is best for African Americans at the NAACP convention, you can’t do it anywhere. So what was this speech about? I belie…

How the Religious (and ‘Nones’) Vote May Tip 6 Swing States

By Daniel Schultz

…s yes, he’s got a pretty good shot of it. According to PRRI, he has decent numbers among the white suburbanites who will make up the swing vote of the election (to the extent that the “swing vote” is a meaningful category). That’s far from a guarantee, however, especially with a candidate this volatile. Democrats also have a realistic opening to deny Trump re-election. Let’s play faith outreach director in the six states PRRI mentions as toss-ups,…

#Occupy: A Deeper Form of Protest?

By Jay Michaelson

…ism is a point of pride for Occupy participants—or at least, by sufficient numbers of them to scotch anything that might look like an agenda. I doubt this will change. A Deeper Form of Protest Which leads me to the third and final #Occupy circular-ism, which can best be defined as spiritual. There’s an intuitive, cultural, emotive sense that another checklist of items would just perpetuate the wrong way of thinking, the wrong way of being. We don’…

Top Ten Religion & Science Stories of 2009

By Lauri Lebo

…e to refer to as accommodationism, the idea among some scientists that the best way to encourage the acceptance of evolution specifically and science in general is to accommodate the beliefs of those of non-fundamentalist religious faith. Many of the prominent voices embracing this idea are non-believers themselves, but they stress that one can hold both a belief in God and acceptance of science. John Wilkins, a science blogger, pointed out the ne…

Conservatives, Messianic Jews, and the Jews

By Sarah Posner

…ited for Israel and other Christian Zionist groups “the Jews’ and Israel’s best friends in the world,” also tried to blame liberals, not Messianic Jews, for challenges to Judaism. “For 40 years I have argued that Jews for Jesus pose little or no danger to Jewish survival,” Prager wrote. “We Jews should be preoccupied with all the Jews for Nothing, the Jews for anti-Zionism, the Jews for radical Leftism.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again h…

Democrats Have Seized the Narrative Frame From the GOP, But Can They Find a Better Story to Tell About an Inclusive, Pluralist US?

By Chrissy Stroop

…a key reason Democrats display such a lack of imagination in this area. At best, they give a nod to other religions while leaving Christianity front and center. The Christian privilege that permeates American society and politics needs to be dismantled just as much as White privilege, male privilege, and cis-het privilege in the pursuit of a genuinely democratic future. If Democrats hope to be the more inclusive party they can do so precisely by d…

Why Did So Many Black Women Die? Jonestown at 35

By Sikivu Hutchinson

…raisals on Peoples Temple and Jonestown only a few are by black women (the best of these have been compiled at the “Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple” site). Thrash and Leslie Wagner–Wilson are currently the only two black women survivors to publish books on their experiences. Wagner-Wilson managed to escape Jonestown before the massacre with several of her family members. As early African American members of the church wh…

At the UN, Conservative Christian Agenda Cloaked in Human Rights Language

By Austin Dacey

…ide of the marital bond, and to promote the institution of marriage as the best environment for children. The article on religion is noteworthy for affirming a positive “Right to a Religion”—in contrast to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, the standard in accepted international instruments. Here again, the Declaration cites the UDHR but omits its crucial inclusion of the “freedom to change” belief and highlights “the right of parents t…

Suicide Bombers and the Prozac God: A Review of Dying for Heaven

By Bruce B. Lawrence

Dying for Heaven: Holy Pleasure and Suicide Bombers–Why the Best Qualities of Religion Are Also its Most Dangerous by Ariel Glucklich (HarperOne, November 3, 2009) Writing about suicide bombers is a crowded field, especially since 9/11. Two years ago, Martha Crenshaw, a prominent professor of government at Wesleyan University, wrote a mega-review of the top twelve books on this riveting but complex topic. She concluded her nearly 30-page essay by…