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A Philosopher of Religion Calls it Quits

By Julia Galef

…as a fraud and I can no longer take it seriously enough to present it to a class as a respectable philosophical position—no more than I could present intelligent design as a legitimate biological theory. BTW, in saying that I now consider the case for theism to be a fraud, I do not mean to charge that the people making that case are frauds who aim to fool us with claims they know to be empty. No, theistic philosophers and apologists are almost pai…

The Marxist Roots of American Exceptionalism

By Michael J. Altman

…ica did not develop a strong socialist movement. Capitalism should lead to class conflict and eventually to a revolution and socialism, these Marxists argued, but America was an exception to this rule. Alpers points out that it was the neoconservative interventionist foreign policy of the 1990s and the two Bush administrations that prompted folks on the right to claim American exceptionalism as its own. Lurking in the background of this unilateral…

Egyptians Approve Constitution with Establishment of Islam as State Religion

By H.A. Hellyer

…—most of which has to do with the way that Egyptian society is split along class lines and geographical lines, and the failure of the “no” vote to engage beyond their comfort zone and build a coalition. Religion did play a role, though less as a spiritual imperative than as an identity politics movement. The Coptic Church let it be known that they supported a “no” vote on the basis that if a new constitution were arrived at later on, with a parlia…

Utah Rejects Arizona-Style Anti-Immigrant Politics

By Joanna Brooks

…s to check the immigration status of individuals arrested for felonies and class B and C misdemeanors. But it is receiving national attention as a break with the spirit and method of Arizona’s now infamously punitive SB 1070, and similar measures in Oklahoma and Missouri. LDS Presiding Bishop David Burton spoke at the signing ceremony to voice appreciation for the legislature’s work, a move that in its openness and publicity is viewed as a strong…

Gay Marriage Measure Dies in Maryland

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…o delegates’ job security—can still convince lawmakers to continue to treat some of their fellow citizens as second class….

Wisconsin Religious Voices Witness Against Scott Walker

By Daniel Schultz

…he haves and have-nots of society by taking resources away from the middle class and the poor and giving them to the wealthiest among us.” He continues: “This is a serious moral problem for religious people, because our sacred scriptures teach that the government has a responsibility to do the opposite – to prevent this gap from becoming too wide. We have therefore asked for a meeting with the Governor to discuss these moral concerns with him.” Me…

Big MoPublican Primary 2012: Dignity Watch

By Joanna Brooks

…ind me of the premium Mormon culture has placed on clean-cut all-American likeability. Since the middle of the twentieth-century, that’s been the ticket we’ve tried to ride away from our frontier origins and melt into the suburban middle class. And still, Mormons consistently find our faith ranking consistently low in public esteem. Perhaps there is a lesson in all of this for the Big MoPublican Primary contenders? When it comes to faith and polit…

After Westboro: The Trouble With “Tolerance”

By Cody J. Sanders

…eality. Tolerance allows our unearned privilege (whether racial privilege, class privilege, heterosexist privilege, etc.) to go unquestioned and unchallenged. So beneath the theological surface of the iceberg’s tip—Westboro and the like—we do not find less hateful and violent theological and ideological views, just more subtly expressed ones. Unfortunately, it is the power that does not look like power that is most effective in maintaining circums…

The Right Wing Bible and the Politics of Impotence

By Christopher B. Hays

…mmunity and ethics in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is, among other things, a book about national formation through covenant with God—not only a one-time covenant, but a covenant that is to be remembered and renewed so that it can continue to shape the people. The idea of remembrance is central to the book’s message, and there is an educational aspect to that: The one who shares in the covenant is supposed to make known the ways and ordinances of God…

Creationists Try to Claim Scopes

By Lauri Lebo

…to introduce the latest anti-evolution strategy into public school science class. I have an article in today’s Scientific American about the proposed legislation, as well as continuing efforts in Texas and Louisiana to water down the teaching of evolution. What makes the Tennessee bill so interesting is that the man who leading the campaign is invoking the name of John Scopes, the science teacher convicted in 1925 for teaching evolution: [T]oday’s…