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Record Number of Stealth Creationism Bills Introduced in 2011

By Lauri Lebo

…weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught.” As always, since intelligent design was ruled unconstitutional in Kitzmiller v. Dover, the introduced bills rely on such creationist code words as “teaching the controversy,” “academic freedom,” or “critical analysis.” However, in the case of Florida, the bill’s sponsoring lawmaker Rep. Stephen Wise had proposed similar legislation in 2009. The bill died in committee,…

Some Thoughts on Richard Dawkins’ Terrible Tweet

By Haroon Moghul

…Go to any university in America and you’ll come across a disproportionate number of Muslims. Before Dawkins can cry, ‘You succeed in the West but not the non-West!’—and thereby claim the superiority of the West he and I are both happily a part of—note that American Muslims have, on the whole, done much better than Western European Muslims. Whose fault is that? Why are Muslims succeeding culturally, creatively, and scientifically, in America, but…

Give Me That Old-Time Ex-Gay Snake Oil

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…like saying being a teenager causes gangs. While gang membership may be predominantly composed of teenagers, there are societal and familial forces that bring those teens into the gangs. Gangs, aside from the violence they perpetrate, are often a replacement for the love, opportunity and sense of belonging that many teens may not be getting at home. The same can be said for homosexuality. A sexual orientation does not cause one to become addicted,…

Why The Book of Mormon (the Musical) is Awesomely Lame

By Jared Farmer

…ggerated statistic that counts all baptisms and births, but not the actual number of churchgoers), representatives of the religion—and representations of it—have managed to become fixtures in popular culture. I don’t have a complete explanation for this, but I would point first to the post-9/11 zeitgeist. In the last decade, there was a national and global debate about the place of religion in politics. Many looked to the American past to better u…

End-Times Watcher Sees Satan in an Energy Drink

By William R. Black

…anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six.” The author of Revelation meant that 666 was a person’s name turned into a number via the Jewish numerological practice of gematria. Since every Hebrew letter was also a number, the letters of a name could be added up to produce that person’s number. Here’s an example of gematria using an alphabet we’re more famil…

My God, David Brooks

By John Modern

…t, as a psychic investment. A choice well chosen. In a secular age, Brooks reports, “Religious faith or nonfaith becomes more a matter of personal choice as part of a quest for personal development.” One senses that in Brooks’ reading of Taylor the principle of choice becomes its own form of transcendence—the difference that the secular age makes in all of our lives. Which is to say that Taylor and Brooks are not wrong about this particular change…

As Florida Attempts to Make it Illegal, an Argument for the Sacred Work of White Discomfort

By Robert P. Jones

…it mean to say that the avoidance of discomfort, particularly by those who represent the country’s historically dominant race and religion, is constitutive of individual liberty? And what does it reveal about the health and mindset of white Christians today?1 Let me start with an easy analogy. What if this bill included the avoidance of individual discomfort, not just to Florida’s teachers but to Florida’s athletic coaches? Florida, like most Sout…

New Report on (White) Christian Nationalism and the J6 Insurrection Shows Just ‘How Dire the Threat is’

By Chrissy Stroop

…lence. Amanda Tyler then made some closing remarks, stressing that the new report represents “the most complete accounting of Christian nationalism,” not only as present on January 6, 2021, but also with respect to “the events leading up to that day.” Though Anthea Butler, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was unable to attend, her contribution to the report, which comes directly after the opening section outlinin…

Behind the Inclusive-Sounding Ads of this $100 Million PR-Blitz-for-Jesus it’s the Same Old Conservative Christian Fantasy

By Chrissy Stroop

…living that lifestyle as they’re living it in our world today would [sic] REPENT and turn from that lifestyle.” As the CT report cited above notes, the “He Gets Us” website is working with Gloo, a Koch-connected company that uses big data to help churches target the vulnerable for outreach and conversion. The report also mentions that “He Gets Us” promotes Alpha, a global initiative launched in the UK known for its homophobic views, which makes i…

The Intellectual Source Code For National Conservatism Can Be Found at This Niche Catholic Publication

By Peter Schwartz

…and structural bias toward a powerful state, supported by the Church, that represents the will of God upon earth, and for which the tactics of retail politics are a minor detail within the tapestry. The freedom and autonomy of individuals that American liberals assume must be the first priority—in economic activity or in religious and cultural practices—is largely a legacy of Reformation Protestantism, with its inherent and recursive tendencies to…