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PCUSA’s Nod to “Traditional” Marriage Understandable, but Not Accurate

By William E. Smith

…made headlines recently after its local presbyteries voted to, as the New York Times put it, approve same-sex marriage. This new definition will go into effect in June. Given the tensions this issue has caused, both within the PCUSA and among many other denominations, it shouldn’t be very surprising that the phrasing in the PCUSA’s Book of Order was changed from “between a man and a woman” to “between two people, traditionally a man and a woman.”…

Mitt Romney At Value Voters Summit

By Joanna Brooks

…ers. Liberty. Greatness. Romney then concluded with his book-title-cum-two-word-campaign-slogan—“No apologies!”—his campaign’s version of a fist pump. It’s hard to tell from the livestream or the C-SPAN footage exactly how Romney’s speech went over with the Values Voters, although Sarah observed he lacked the requisite fervor to rile the crowd. On the political blogs, some report that the “Values” crowd was cold on Romney, while others argue tha…

I Am Better than Him

By Amina Wadud

…reated from (an atom of) dirt.” I am better than him is istikbar. And this word occurs 40 OR 50 TIMES through out the Qur’an in various forms, not just about Satan but also and mostly about human beings and their arrogance. As happens in the Satan story, istikbar is the cause of disobedience to God. It is the cause of failure to worship God, as one. It is the cause of rejection of the Prophets. It is the cause of disregarding the message of revela…

Millennials Put Off By Rigid, Judgmental Religion Offered … More Orthodoxy

By Daniel Schultz

…morality afloat than actually helping anyone in need. You’ll notice that Shrum never says a word about service or ministry. It’s all holiness all the time. Unfortunately for churches like Shrum’s, holiness just isn’t very popular in our culture these days. What people want in spirituality is egalitarianism, an emphasis on the ways in which God welcomes, rather than rejects. It’s okay that Shrum or other conservative pastors might say “Sorry, we ca…

Evolution Challenged in ‘Textbook’ Case: As Goes Texas, So Goes the Nation

By Lauri Lebo

…, in contrast, was outlining a strategy was to attack science’s naturalist worldview by upholding the strength and weakness language in Texas’ science standards. “These two systems of thought, with completely different starting points for their worldview, are not slightly opposed to each other but fully dispute the other’s claim; to not do so would show a weakness in their own beliefs,” he wrote in the e-mail. “Also, these two opposing systems giv…

Sex, Violence, Art, and Religion

By Kent L. Brintnall

…ion, that different features will light up. I hope my readers will develop new sensitivities and new suspicions. And, I really hope that I never write a book with the intention of pissing people off. I definitely disagree with people in this book. I disagree, in very clear and forthright ways, with some very smart, very careful, very well-regarded scholars. (This would be another source of significant anxiety about the book.) But, as contrarian as…

Conservative Media Firm Pushes Claim That Gaza Withdrawal Caused BP Disaster

By Sarah Posner

…, this has and could cause further catastrophe on the Gulf Coast. McTernan runs a ministry, Defend and Proclaim the Faith and, according to the site’s biography, is a “pro-life leader” in central Pennsylvania, where he lives. He’s also the founder of International Cops for Christ because “[t]he Bible refers to the police as God’s ministers and God has granted awesome power to the police for the subduing of evil. This power includes arresting peopl…

Santorum and Huckabee Question Authority

By Sarah Posner

…Supreme Court’s authority impinges on what they see as religious truths about homosexuality, abortion, and birth control. But what are religious truths when even Rick Santorum says he can’t listen to the Pope? …

Focus on the Family Goes to Bat for Bullies

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…y focusing on the bully, Wiseman said, it becomes a matter of the victim’s word against the word of the bully, and if FotF gets its way and strips specific categories from anti-bullying laws, the victim won’t even be able to use the words necessary to describe what they were being bullied about. “If you take out the language of naming the behavior, then it becomes so amorphous that there’s no place for that kid to define what is happening to them….

Netanyahu’s Speech, Lane’s Trip, and the Impossibility of Boycotts

By Sarah Posner

…Here at home, there are noises that House Democrats might (emphasis on the word might) boycott Netanyahu’s speech. Politico reported this morning that Democrats have privately (emphasis on the word privately) hinted that they might skip the speech. Politico also reported that Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, had a “spirited” meeting with seven pro-Israel House Democrats. The AP reports that Rep. Steve Israel, the Democrat who arranged…