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The Conflation of Antisemitism and Israel Criticism Isn’t Unique, But It Is a Problem

By Elizabeth Shively

As a scholar of politics and religion I’ve been frustrated by the public discussion of Israel, Rep. Ilhan Omar and anti-Semitism. We are asked to take sides for or against Israel, for or against Ilhan Omar, and worst of all, for or against the Jewish people. How do we know if a sentiment or act is truly anti-Semitic or merely a critique of Israeli policy? Or the result of ignorance? It is difficult to know with certainty, and recognizing why is t…

Manslaughter Conviction of Brittney Poolaw Represents Pattern of White Christian Policing of Black and Brown Women’s Bodies

By Chrissy Stroop

…hristian missions in Central America. And those missions bore their toxic fruit. Today, El Salvador has a significant population of mostly charismatic evangelicals that can be counted on to support reactionary politics. The country also has one of the world’s most draconian abortion bans, passed in 1997, and an extremely troubling record of arresting and convicting women who miscarry. If white evangelicals and their traditionalist Catholic allies…

Trump and the Bible Dodge

By Sarah Posner

…a running mate in Sarah Palin—perhaps contemporary politics’ clearest forerunner to the Trump ascendancy. While Palin, like Trump, spoke the language of what TNR’s Jeet Heer calls “aggrieved privilege” (not populism), Palin wrapped it in overtly religious gestures. Her gestures, particularly her verbal ones, bore all the hallmarks of modern televangelism: an insistence on biblical inerrancy paired with a claim that the speaker can receive new rev…

This Quote About ‘Pregnant’ Church From Outgoing SBC President is Deeply Troubling For Anyone Concerned About Sexual Abuse

By Jill Hicks-Keeton

…urches and the highest level of denominational leadership. Much of the SBC news cycle has now moved on to the surprise election of Alabama pastor Ed Litton as the incoming president, the result of what Ruth Graham of the New York Times called “a dramatic showdown” in this denomination that “often serves as a bellwether for white American evangelicalism.” But the quote above, from one of the more mundane moments of the meeting is, in my judgment, a…

Prominent Evangelical Pundit Accuses Obama of “Abusing” Faith-Based Office

By Sarah Posner

…ner — we’ve been on C-SPAN together talking about (what else) religion and politics — so I asked him what he meant. He emailed me a piece he’d written about the administration’s attack on the Chamber of Commerce foreign funding, in which he describes an “abuse of power” of “McCarthyite” proportions. (Progressive blogger Glenn Greenwald makes a similar argument, but he calls questions around the Chamber’s foreign funding a “legitimate issue” that h…

The Risks of Remaining Neutral on Egypt

By Haroon Moghul

…zed, or to gingerly urge the government (as Secretary of State Clinton did today) to allow freedom of expression and assembly. But in supporting the government or remaining equivocal, we point the way away from Turkey—which, in the long run, is the best possible example for a religiously Muslim society to turn to—and we may even potentially empower Iran. Really. If the people of the Arab world feel that America is not behind them—or worse, is acti…

Can a Progressive Atheist Defeat the Democrats’ “Family” Man in NC?

By Sarah Jaffe

…voters whose real interests are much more closely aligned with progressive politics than with corporatist politics in either major party,” he notes, pointing out that despite being a non-theist, he is an active member of the local Unitarian Universalist church, a member of its Social Justice Council, and the founder of a jail ministry. He is aware, though, that the smears he faced in 2009 are likely to increase in a messy primary against a well-…

Sheldon Adelson’s Long Game

By Sarah Posner

…ed not just at influencing the outcome of the election, but probably more crucially on influencing conversation about Israel. Adelson can read a poll just as easily as anyone else. Or last year’s Pew Research Center survey on American Jewish attitudes. His money isn’t about 2016 or even 2020 or 2024, it’s about staving off the shifting views of American Jews about Israel, or at least constraining political dialogue about it. Citizens United enable…

Prayer vigil for Las Vegas shooting victim Sonny Melton (WBBJ TV)

No Way Out But The Ballot Box: Why Partisanship Trumps Morality In Gun Control Debate

By Daniel Schultz

…n fact, that’s exactly what has to happen. What I said in 2015 still holds today, I think: Religious advocates for gun control are caught on the horns of a dilemma, then. They can live their values and not get involved in the dirty business of politics, in which case the slaughter continues. Or they can come off the sidelines and start to organize effectively, which challenges the cherished belief that faith-based action can somehow rise above mer…

Will Trump’s Weakness Threaten White Evangelical Support?

By Kristin Kobes Du Mez

…cals do defect from Trump it won’t necessarily indicate a departure from the politics of the last four years. It may simply suggest that evangelicals have lost faith in Trump’s ability to perform. Even small signs of strength, however, such as Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding Trump administration regulations allowing religious exemptions to contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act, will likely be enough to draw evangelicals b…