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Why The Church Can’t Stop Gun Violence

By Daniel Schultz

…imagined tyranny of an “illegitimate” federal government. But in the short run, people are understandably frustrated as the body count continues to rise. What can be done? The key, I think, lies with that idea of leverage. Building up positive values in elected representatives seldom works these days. They come into office knowing what they think, and what they think their constituents want. That leaves negative reinforcement: unless politicians f…

‘Religious Freedom’: Constitutional Principle or Electoral Politics?

By Frances Kissling

…following the law on contraceptive insurance, but also to assert without scrutiny that any number of health services violate its religious beliefs. In her interview with Kaiser Health News, Sr. Keehan acknowledged that the CHA still has “some very real concerns in the Church that even if you get rid of the coverage of contraceptives, [there may be] problems in the future.” Up to now, the administration has followed a strategy that is political, bu…

The Clenched Fist of Truthiness: Why Religion Won’t Fix This

By Daniel Schultz

…And as it happens, there is quite a bit of evidence emerging that American politics these days revolves around questions of identity, exacerbated by a growing urban-rural divide. This is what I mean when I say, faith—or the lack thereof—reflects coherent, competing worldviews. Should America be a racially, religiously, and sexually pluralistic society? Or should it be run by and for the benefit of white Christians with “traditional” sexual mores?…

Hagee and McCain Part Ways

By Ira Chernus

…dear heart, be offended: I didn’t write it. Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth.” Which raises the question: What should be more offensive to a political candidate, a claim that God is fully in charge of history, or a claim that the biblical text, not human thought, is the source of truth? It’s the latter that violates the spirit, and perhaps the letter, of the first amendment’s guarantee of separating church and state. If you…

Taking Liberties: 8 Great Stories on Religion and History in U.S. Politics

By The Editors

…happy, reflective 4th. —The Eds. __________________________ RD’s JULY 4th READING LIST The Quixotic Task of Debunking David Barton PAUL HARVEY • Jun 3, 2012 The reason all the refutation in the world will have little or no effect on Barton’s target audience is that his book, The Jefferson Lies, is not really about Jefferson at all; it’s about Barton’s own skewed view of the context of historical scholarship and the academic enterprise—and, for th…

What’s the Role of LDS Church Leaders when it comes to Politics?

By Joanna Brooks

…leadership bodies, the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy, mission presidents, and temple presidents); Mays include part-time Church leaders (area authorities, stake presidents, and bishops) as long as they don’t fundraise among the people for whom they have ecclesiastical responsibility. The statement is being viewed as a defensive gesture—a preemptive strike, perhaps—against charges that the LDS Church is off…

America Does Not Have a Religious Identity

By Dennis J Goldford

…possible in laying out the argument I am trying to make. We always have a reader or an audience in mind when we write, and thinking in terms of the intelligent but uninformed reader instead of the specialist forces me to avoid the hidden and uncontested assumptions that can weaken even the best scholarly work. Nevertheless, I did write The Constitution of Religious Freedom to make a scholarly argument for a scholarly audience and thus did include…

Following Republican Playbook, German Conservatism Breaks the Post-WWII Taboo

By Annika Brockschmidt

…lived in the U.S. for 27 years now. Visiting Germany this summer, he was struck by the shift he saw in German politics. Recently, on our podcast “Kreuz und Flagge” (“Cross and Flag”), where we analyze the struggles of American democracy, he told me and my co-host Lukas Hermsmeier: “I was there, when Aiwanger and Scheuer directly copied off DeSantis’ playbook.” In his view, what we’re seeing isn’t a Trumpification of German conservatism so much as…

Feared Taliban Leader Killed, But Military Strategy is Not the Answer in Afghanistan

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…are open to cooperation and change. 4. Respect the legitimacy of religious politics. Among the many forms of religious politics in the region are quite a few that are democratic and tolerant. The rise of religiously-related political movements is not necessarily to be feared; nor are they antithetical to democratic values. One of the great nonviolent leaders of South Asia’s independence movement, Ghaffar Khan, was known as the Pashtun Gandhi. For…

The War on Terror is Over; Tahrir Buried It

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…is quite unlikely for several reasons. First, the Muslim Brotherhood has already been involved in parliamentary politics in Egypt in independent seats, and their positions have been fairly reasonable. Second, the parliamentary structure that will require them to come into coalition with other groups in order to achieve legislation will provide a check on their religious aspirations. There are few reasons to worry, therefore, that the January revol…