Religion Dispatches
…stian Center is scheduled to host a prayer evening organized by Christians United for Israel, headed up by Pastor John Hagee (yes, the one McCain had to distance himself from after a sermon surfaced in which Hagee said Hitler was a tool God used to force Jews to go to Israel). Interestingly, this tidbit was recently removed from CUFI’s web page, but The American Prospect found a cached page with the listing. Ken Silverstein and Sebastian Jones at…
Read More…rial cooperation agreements, recognizing the ordinations of ministers within the other denominations. “It’s almost like dominoes,” Adee said, “It used to be the exception, but it’s becoming the rule. The pressure is now on the United Methodists.” Currently, the United Methodist Church allows gay and lesbian ministers, but only if they are celibate and not open about their sexual orientation. “This is an ethical challenge and an invitation,” Adee s…
Read More…or cultures” then argued that the “so-called Christians” (referring to the United Methodist minister who was a guest on the show) should “get their heads out of the sand,” and talk to missionaries in the Middle East about what the Muslims “are really doing.” All this from a public radio audience. With renunciation of Dove Outreach coming from even the most outspoken anti-Muslim public figures (both political and religious) maybe the whole mess wil…
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…to reconnect with younger viewers, it is likely that God TV’s debut in the United States will send channel surfers in the Alecs’ direction.” Recently God TV has been broadcasting live a healing revival of the Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley, from Lakeland, Florida, which Charisma dubbed the “Lakeland Healing Outpouring.” During the revival, which has been ongoing for more than a month, Wendy Alec claimed to have received a prophecy from God that…
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…and the worldview of the most politically consequential demographic in the United States today. White evangelical Christians wield their disproportionate political power via their domination in the Republican Party, and 81% of them voted for Donald Trump in 2016. They remain his core group of support, standing behind him during his impeachment, and they are a key to his re-election bid in 2020. The evangelical scholar Mark Noll has criticized the…
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…ants not to use illegal fireworks in the United Arab Emirates. Even in the United States, some critics have called for the federal government to regulate fireworks, rather than exempting them from the ambit of the Clean Air Act. The EPA has refused, claiming that “Congress did not intend to require EPA to consider air-quality violations associated with such cultural traditions in regulatory determinations.” Although most people probably conjure up…
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…re: I am an ex-evangelical). Under conditions of Christian hegemony in the United States, however, that has not been the prevailing practice—not by a long shot. If social media buzz is any indicator, there’s still a widespread tendency for liberals to dismiss Christian nationalists as “fake Christians”—a deflection that only serves to reinforce Christian supremacism by equating “Christian” with “good,” thus harming the non-religious and adherents…
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…endment, whose first section reads: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person withi…
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…government. Studies of late twentieth-century legislative decisions in the United States did show—unsurprisingly—that they favored the interests of the wealthy. The studies did not demonstrate, however, that these decisions threatened democracy, just that they went against public opinion on certain issues such as estate taxes and support for a minimum wage. Again: Hunh?? And not a word here about Citizens United or about the rivers of dark money t…
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…n Isidro Cabañas (ASIC). What is this Canadian company’s connection to the United States? Pacific Rim’s press release on their suit explains how this Canadian company uses its US subsidiary in Reno, Nevada (Pacific Rim Cayman LLC) to take advantage of CAFTA; as Canada is not party to the agreement. This subsidiary has not been active since Pacific Rim sold their only Nevada interest in October 2008. An additional US connection to this story is the…
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