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Tearing Down Evangelical Icons: Why Penn’s Decision to Remove George Whitefield Statue May Be Good for American Evangelicalism

By Peter Y. Choi

…defended true evangelicalism, which he believes stands above racism. If we look back far enough in history, according to this view, a purer version of evangelical faith awaits rediscovery. But we would search in vain. You can go all the way back to Whitefield and find that it was always possible to preach the Christian gospel and promote white supremacy and chattel slavery at the same time. Whitefield, after all, criticized the belated legalizatio…

A Sliver of White Evangelicals Abandoning Trump, But That May Be Enough

By Daniel Schultz

…In order to be on track for reelection, he would have to be improving his numbers with white Christians, and it’s just not happening. Last, Trump is taking a huge hit among older voters, dropping 14 points in favorability with those 65 or older. Unscientifically, this may be what’s causing the fall in his religious numbers. Because older voters tend to be more religious than younger ones, a decline in one set will very likely be reflected in the…

Why Grownups Have Caught Halloween Fever (And Why it’s Unlikely to End Anytime Soon)

By Daniel Wise

…of zombies, superheroes, and killer clowns, often exemplified by those who look forward to Halloween for months, even preferring it to Christmas and Hanukkah. But why are we surprised that, as a recent USA Today headline put it, “Halloween’s been hijacked by adults,” or that more than half of all costumes sold by a popular online retailer are for grownups? Is this adult Halloween craze about expressing ourselves and finding joy, as the article sug…

Creationism 3.0: Meet Intelligent Design’s Huckster

By Michael Schulson

…onal religious convictions (I’ll leave that to Lauren Green). But a deeper look at Meyer’s affiliations suggest goals that aren’t strictly academic. For Focus on the Family, Meyer has recorded two series of lectures, one demonstrating, in the organization’s words, that the Bible “is a reliable historical document,” and the other arguing “that our universe was created by an intelligent designer—and the most logical candidate is the God of the Bible…

Facebook’s “No Religion” Policy Hoax

By Gwynne Watkins

…y made that fake Facebook notice, and put enough energy into it to make it look semi-legit—though, as per usual with internet hoaxes, they didn’t spell-check it. So why this particular message? Was it mocked up by an atheist who wants his aunt to stop posting about the rapture? A secular person who wants to make religious people look dumb? A religious person trying to send a message that mainstream culture is still the enemy? Most likely, it was j…

Francis and the Nuns: An Interview with Mary Gordon

By Patricia Miller

…pe Benedict, he looks great, just because next to Benedict, Godzilla would look great. Second, Nelson Mandela died and the world is looking for a spiritual leader to fill the gap. And finally, something that you see often with religious progressives, is that they don’t get whole women’s piece. For them it just isn’t a deal breaker. What Francis is good about isn’t new in terms of substance—Pope John Paul II said some very strong things about capit…

God Wants You to Work Harder, and to Stop Complaining

By James Dennis LoRusso

…ter levels of prosperity, both material and spiritual. These organizations look after us as fathers care for their children, and when the father is led by spirit, so goes the rest of the family. Preposterous-sounding, perhaps, but maybe this is simply a picture of the world in which we already live. After all, corporations are the most powerful organizations of our day; the last three decades have witnessed drastic deregulation of business practic…

Red White and Blue No Longer

By Peter Laarman

…g to do with this particular form of insanity, religion is where we should look, both to gauge the scope of the problem and to scan for possible pathways to sanity. The Old Religion of Whiteness Persists in New Forms The distinctly American hierarchical system, the comprehensive system of economic and social control that James Lawson tellingly refers to as “plantation capitalism,” has long been thoroughly bonded to a white supremacist ideology. B…

Is God Irrelevant?

By Davidson Loehr

…me and carry my love and my work forward? How should I live so that when I look back on my life, whether a year or decades from now, I can honestly be glad I’ve lived the way I did? Theologians, ministers, and active congregants may say, correctly, that their religions still offer some responses to these most basic human questions. But theologians and preachers can no longer claim (and anyway are no longer granted) any particular authority for the…

Why Nobody Should Be Surprised That Pope Francis Made Problematic Comments About Judaism — And That He Remains Unapologetic

By Ilan Benattar

…to exorcise from its faithful? For the answer to these questions, we must look more closely at the document itself. Nostra Aetate begins with an exposition on the nature of religious truth as it manifests in a variety of religious traditions, Judaism included. It goes on to prominently assert that “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions.” Here we’ve found our cipher for what follows. Evidently, the Vatican Co…