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Policing Academic Freedom: A Book, a Controversy, and the Ominous Aftermath

By Michael Jerryson

…ebsite on March 7, 2014 that included: The AAR and its almost ten thousand members are dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the study of religion. But to pursue excellence scholars must be free to ask any question, to offer any interpretation, and to raise any issue. If governments block the free exchange of ideas or restrict what can be said about religion, all of us are impoverished. It is only free inquiry that allows a robust understandin…

The Religious Right’s Apocalyptic Visions of an Obama Presidency

By Bill Berkowitz

…U.S. intelligence services “to cease all wiretapping of alleged terrorist phone calls unless they first obtained a specific court warrant for each case.” Captured overseas terrorists are no longer given military tribunals but are “now given full trials in the U.S. court system.” The relaxing of the Bush Administration’s rules of engagement with terrorists has led to the explosion of “terrorist bombs in two large and two small U.S. cities, killing…

Pat Robertson’s Women Warriors Leading Spiritual Warfare In Zimbabwe

By Sarah Posner

…ential material,” said Mpofu. “Oh yeah,” echoes Bourland. “In my heart, I just begin to pray, God, let this woman rise to this place that you want her to go,” said Mpofu. “Number one, she’s a Christian. Number two, she’s a woman.” Watch a short video montage of the conference here. —Ed….

Women in Combat and the Priesthood: A Response to Mary Hunt

By Marian Ronan

…tion into a patriarchal institution. In her presentation, feminists in the military seem initially to comprise pure types of moderate ‘interest group’ activism while women in the church engage in radical ‘discursive’ activism. Yet Katzenstein is clear that one kind of activism is not superior to another. Rather, degrees of each are necessary if women’s equality is to be advanced in mainstream institutions; feminists in church and military, she bel…

Combat Soldiers & Clergywomen: Problematic Equality

By Mary E. Hunt

…men in combat probably do not want to change the fundamental nature of the military. Women priests already exist through ordination processes that parallel the official one, and plenty of Catholic women minister in their own ways. But what feels so dismayingly familiar is that we who struggle for justice only live to see such a fraction of what we envision. I am not persuaded by incrementalist arguments. I do not think that women entering combat w…

Gay-Hating Church Burns “Idols”: A Report

By Rebecca Barrett-Fox

…discussion of the church’s upcoming Supreme Court case on the picketing of military funerals; for church members, it was an idol-smashing party. As America is in the throes of what appears to be an anti-Islamic fever, it is WBC’s critique of the flag as an idol that angers the public most-and what divides the church’s counter-protestors. If these counter-protestors are a bit confused about how to respond, that’s understandable. While President Oba…

The Anglican and the Evangelicals: Insights from the Sudanese Genocide

By Frederick Clarkson

…of “moral equivalency between the two sides.” Smith protested: “SPLM-North members are not bombing people indiscriminately, driving Arabs off their lands and out of their homes nor going door-to-door to identify their perceived enemies and execute them. The Government of Sudan’s military forces are.” “Some are trying to down play the overwhelming responsibility of the Sudanese government for the devastation taking place in Southern Kordofan by ref…

A Peek Inside the ‘Onion’ of Scientology

By Kristin Rawls

…s there, I was the only person in the room. I don’t really know what their membership numbers are right now. However, there is an independent movement of Scientologists that is splintering from the Church. They’re similar to the Protestant reformers who broke with the Catholic Church. Specifically, they are not charging people tremendous sums, which is what the organized Church does, and they’re not being nearly as punitive. I think money and dog…

Pastor of Kentucky Church Severed From Baptists Over LGBT Inclusion: Not Activism, Just Honesty

By Mike Greer

…years. I came about the time that folks from Burma began arriving in large numbers and uniting in membership with Crescent Hill, and much of my time in those early years was spent trying to figure out how in the world we might be able to be a unified body that includes people who don’t speak English, who have a completely foreign background and cultural experience. It took a lot of hard work but we reached a place a number of years ago where, whil…

I Miss Tina Fey

By Julie Ingersoll

…half. There were still probably 80 empty seats, and it was clear that some number of attendees had free tickets. The largest financial supporter of the event was a local news/talk radio station and its representatives were the only media allowed in. As I arrived with my Religion Dispatches press badge they stopped me before I even got to the door. I chatted with an AP reporter and he said AP had been trying for weeks to gain media access—but that…