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Why Has the Critique of Hypocrisy Run Out of Steam?

…ss of pretense. Our old friend self-deception But the hypocrisy we witness today may not be so much acts of pretense and public false performance as self-deception. In Hypocrisy: Ethical Investigations, Béla Szabados and Eldon Soifer suggest that our perception of hypocrisy has shifted in modern times. If Biblical and Medieval thinkers saw hypocrisy primarily as a matter of pretense, of the difference between the inner morality and outward perform…

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Christians of Color Are Rejecting “Colonial Christianity” and Reclaiming Ancestral Spiritualities

…d as a key strategy to empire building. The consequences can still be seen today across the globe. “The erasure of belief systems and practices was intentional and almost complete,” Barbara Holmes, President of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and professor of ethics and African American religious studies, wrote in an email. “All over Africa you find people dressed as Quakers of a past era, wearing formal Presbyterian robes in the mi…

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One More Day until Marriage Equality vote in New York?

…emptions in the bill. Wavering Republican senators are reportedly seeking broader religious exemptions akin to those contained in New Hampshire’s marriage equality law. CNN and other news outlets have reported that the governor can extend the legislative session beyond today’s deadline and has said that he would do so. Today, a Buffalo television station reported that the marriage vote would likely take place tomorrow; it said the governor and Rep…

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Grace Under Pressure: Reclaiming Hope for Progressive Religion

…h counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom’s cause. Hope is what led me here today—with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. It is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake…

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Will Anti-Gay Churches Have Their Tax Exempt Status Revoked?

…emphasis mine): The reason conservative Christians are fighting this fight today is because it’s a firewall. The real danger, of course, is that Christian pastors and preachers will eventually be coerced into performing same-sex marriages. (Note: It is entirely possible for someone to believe gay marriage is fine, and to still oppose forcing people who hold strong religious convictions to participate — but I suspect that is where we are heading.)…

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The New God-Fearers (FKA “The Nones”) and Where to Find Them

…aware there are two distinct constituencies within the range of his voice. Today we’d call them churchgoers and Nones. But should we? “Nones” is a slippery, amorphous term, a null set. Maybe we’d do better to dust off the old God-fearer moniker, and apply it to those who are still coloring outside the religious lines as Lydia once did. American Christianity—especially its mainline Protestant variety—has largely forgotten how to seek out and visit…

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New Book on Trump and Evangelicals Gets it Mostly Right

…merge with their national counterparts until 1968 and 1983, respectively. Today’s Presbyterian Church in America emerged from pro-segregation Southern Presbyterians and only recently repented of its racist roots. A key question today might involve the degree to which a Southern ethos, complete with its implicit racism, shapes American evangelicalism. This is a good and timely book. Fea is correct that evangelicals feel a sense of cultural disenfr…

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Workers Once Forced the Social Gospel Into Churches—Can It Happen Again?

…ge, official church statements of support for organized labor were scarce. Today, many denominations have such statements and they could be used to hold clergy and laity alike accountable in the midst of labor disputes. Given that rates of religious affiliation vastly outstrip support for unions among Americans today, there is ample room for such accountability. One other constant bears mention here: because church life in America operates on a vo…

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LDS Church Launches New Website Calling for Greater Openness and Understanding on LGBT Issues

…start attending LDS temple services again. That’s what I want the most.’” “Today, our authoritarian Church that once had an answer for everything finally said, ‘We don’t really understand everything about being gay but Christ has commanded us to love and the Church needs to become a safe place.’ I’ve been praying for this since 1992.” There is no change in doctrine announced at mormonsandgays.com: no revision to the Church’s position that being ga…

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With Christian Schools At Risk In Israel, Crickets from American Christian Conservatives

…conservative Christian organizations, all of which advocate for religious freedom and support for Israel, I received no such reaction. In response to requests for interviews or comment from Ralph Reed, president of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, I received just one response—from Reed’s spokeswoman, who said he was unavailable. All…

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