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A collage of a Bible, Valdimir Putin, and the Kremlin and an outline of Russia

Putin’s ‘Year of the Family’ Declaration Blends Russian Nationalism with the Far-Right Rhetoric of the Global Pro-Family Movement

By Irina Smolevskaya

…War and Plunging Birth Rate,” Fortune, October 18, 2022. [10] Team of the Official Website of the President of Russia, “Launching the Year of the Family in Russia,” President of Russia, January 27, 2024, [11] Team of the Official Website of the President of Russia, “New Year Address to the Nation,” President of Russia, December 31, 2023. [12] Katharina Bluhm and Martin Brand, “‘Traditional Values’ Unleashed: The Ultraconservative Influence on Rus…

Wherein An Elected Official Gets His Holiday Miracles Mixed Up

By Sarah Posner

Here’s a heartwarming holiday story from Springfield, Massachusetts, where city councilor Bud Williams said at a Chabad Lubavitch-sponsored Chanukah menorah lighting ceremony, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Williams pointed the finger at the Chabad rabbis for his blunder: The city councilor said he referenced Jesus Christ, whose birth is celebrated every Dec. 25 by Christians worldwide but not by Jews, after participants in the ceremony me…

‘Cru’ Official Demoted for Refusing to Let Women Teach the Bible to Men

By Peter Montgomery

…an said they could not. The exchange came to the attention of regional Cru officials, who met with Harman and reiterated Cru’s policy of “men and women leading together.” They gave Harman three weeks to reconsider his position, and said that if he remained “dogmatic” about the issue, he could no longer serve as Missional Team Leader. Harman decided that he would not change the practice, and Cru demoted him. As campus director at Louisville, Harman…

Condoms and Common Sense

By Frances Kissling

…ocked by the public reaction as well as the dissent by high-ranking Church officials. Early in his papacy, Benedict established a theological commission to explore clarifying the question. After all, as Rhonheimer notes, there is no official teaching on condoms per se. By 2008, hope that the commission would move the church toward open acknowledgement that condoms to prevent the transmission of AIDS was permissible faded and no report was ever iss…

At Launch Rally in Waco, Former President Sets the Stakes for Trump ’24 Campaign with Apocalyptic, Violent, Genocidal Rhetoric

By Annika Brockschmidt & Thomas Lecaque

…e choir singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” harmless enough if not for the official endorsement of the insurrection and the repeated claims of their false imprisonment, horrible treatment, and status as patriots—i.e., martyrs to the cause. The audience had previously been asked to stand and place their hand on their heart—not in a salute to the nation, but to honor the martyrs of the insurrection. Fascists need martyrs—they need blood to sanctify…

Milquetoast Liberal Religion Won’t Challenge Conservative Values: A History Lesson

By Sheila D. Collins

…less “make-work,” a waste of taxpayers’ money, the reality is just the opposite. Useful work which would not otherwise have been done literally changed the face of the country and provided a lasting legacy. Workers built and repaired 1 million miles of roads and 200,000 public facilities—including schools, playgrounds, courthouses, parks and athletic fields, swimming pools, dams, bridges, and airports—drained malarial swamps, eradicated malaria, a…

Pastor of Kentucky Church Severed From Baptists Over LGBT Inclusion: Not Activism, Just Honesty

By Mike Greer

…tual home for many students, staff, and distinguished professors. Today the 800-member church is a diverse community of faith including people of various races, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation, and world-views. Refugees and immigrants compose roughly one-third of the congregation. The church is heavily invested in a wide array of social ministries in the Commonwealth, the U.S., and the world. Below are excerpts from a conversation with the…

A Resurgence of “Ex-Gay Therapy” Under Trump/Pence? ABC News Report Offers a Platform to Hate Group Rep. Peter Sprigg

By Sunnivie Brydum

…orts,” is indeed “long-discredited.” But then they offer what amounts to an 800-word platform to the Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg. The short piece serves as a teaser for Friday’s episode of 20/20, the result of a year-long investigation into several ex-gay “camps” located in the American South. The 20/20 segment features interviews with at least two young people sent to the camps—as well as self-described pastors and administrators of th…

Francis Visits the Church that John Paul Broke

By Patricia Miller

Nearly two and one-half times as many current Catholics think Francis is “more liberal” than they are on “the environment, immigration and distribution of wealth” than those who think he is more liberal on “birth control, abortion and divorce.” – From a New York Times/CBS News poll, release on September 20, 2015 The last time there was this much excitement about a pope’s inaugural visit to the United States, Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wal…

Thoreau’s Ferocious Critique of Philanthropy Does Not Make Him “Selfish”

By Alda Balthrop-Lewis

After Kathryn Schulz’s eviscerating portrait of Thoreau in the New Yorker, the nineteenth-century nature boy has had no shortage of apologists. Jonathan Malesic salvages Thoreau’s political vision, defending his Puritanical sparseness when it came to clothing and furniture not as the quirks of a joyless curmudgeon, but as a means through which he might carve out more free time to think, to wrestle with the moral questions. Jedediah Purdy gives a…