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Was Blind But Now I See: The Debut of a New Anti-Abortion Strategy

By Kellee Terrell

…anti-abortion leader Flip Benham, founder of Operation Save America. She soon came to reject abortion rights, and in time became a regular mouthpiece for the anti-abortion cause. While McCorvey’s “Roe No More” story has become well-known, two decades later her movement is looking for a new class of converts to share their “come to Jesus” moment. I’ll admit that the thought of attending Converted: From Abortion Provider to Pro-Life Activist, a Chi…

Lifestyles of the Rich and Pious

By Patricia Miller

…ps who haven’t gotten the memo from Pope Francis about a “church which is poor and for the poor.” CNN reports that “10 of the 34 active archbishops in the United States live in buildings worth more than $1 million.” The median home value in the U.S. is $174,200. Not surprisingly, that list includes some of the nation’s most outspoken conservative bishops—and allies of the Republican Party—who seem to take the whole “prince of the church” thing mor…

Money, Technology, and the Silence of Churches: A Conversation with Susan Thistlethwaite

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…t has affected those at the bottom of the economic scale. Her forthcoming book is: #Occupy the Bible: What Jesus Really Said (and Did) about Money and Power. “Statistics show that 50% of Americans own 1% of the wealth of the country. That’s a shift on the one percent, but that’s the one percent that has nothing. We can’t let this happen under the radar anymore, so I developed a thesis that Occupy is a sign from God that we have to take this seriou…

The Protestant Mainline Makes a (Literary) Comeback

By Gary Dorrien

…the fundamentalist Right. Now, as the New York Times recently noted, the books on liberal Protestantism and liberal religion are coming fast. Some are about the overlooked legacy of liberal Protestantism and some are about varieties of liberal religion in the United States. As a social ethicist and theologian I have a stake in both subjects, and a track record of worrying that make-up-your-own-religion yields shallow and self-absorbed spiritualit…

Op-Ed: Bashing Back: Queer Thugs?

By Ariana Childs Graham

…n, nothing less” Carrying the torch, decades later, is the task of an offshoot of the radical queer movement called Bash Back!—a small group of “Radical Transfolk, Queers and Allies” with chapters in Chicago, DC, Denver, Lansing, Memphis, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, and Olympia. Anyone who accepts the Bash Back! “points of unity,” which include agreeing to “fight for liberation,” can start their own chapter and conduct any actions they deem…

The Role of Faith in the Lives of Abortion Providers

By Sarah Posner

…anything in the Bible to make me think it was black and white.” Quinn, a coordinator for the National Coalition of American Nuns, the Women-Church Convergence, and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice—Illinois, is a well-known advocate for equality for women within the Catholic Church. “I want to call the church as I have been for years to leave its totalitarian way of governing its people,” she told me. The church should “respect the…

Euthanasia Billboards, Post-Rapture Pet Care, Can You Tell a Burqa from a Hijab?

By Michael J. Altman

…r. Or if you do believe in God, worried about what happens to Fido or Mr. Boots after you’re raptured? Eternal Earth-bound Pets, USA is a group of atheists willing to take care of your pet after you’ve been taken to glory. Tuesday marked the 41st anniversary of the moon landing. What did evangelicals think about it, at the time? NPR offers a view into religious life in China. So far, the series has profiled women imams, Protestants, and Catholics….

Is Wheaton’s Decision to End Student Insurance a Religious Liberty Ruse?

By Patricia Miller

…it refuses to provide contraception so it can instruct the evangelical school’s health insurer to do so. According to Wheaton, even notifying the government that it refuses to provide contraceptives would still violate its religious beliefs (although, as I have written before, evangelical opposition to contraception is quite different from Roman Catholic opposition). Wheaton, however, claims it has been put in the untenable position of either vio…

Kosher Quinoa or Human Rights: Guess Which Dominated Passover Stories

By Shalom Goldman

…on of whether the grain quinoa, which has made inroads through the health-food industry, is kosher for Passover. Only deep into the story are we told that the question arose in grocery stores in the Orthodox sections of Brooklyn, nor do we get any sense that the question is not relevant to 90% of American Jews. It’s not as if American Jews neglect Passover; in fact, it’s the one holiday virtually all Jews mark in some way—more than Rosh Hashanah,…

Want to Love Your Neighbor? Pay Fair Wages

By Kim Bobo

…bor as ourselves (James 2:8), and to be careful not to rob or exploit the poor (Proverbs 22:22). The Torah portion reminds us of God’s willingness to free us from unjust employers and oppressive working conditions (Deuteronomy 26:6-8). Are these just words for another time? I think not. A landmark new report, “Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in America’s Cities,” demonstrates the pervasiveness of wage thef…