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Pastors Urged to Defy IRS to Defeat Evil, Hitlerian Obama

By Peter Montgomery

…n of God step into the pulpit with the word of God in their hand, that the word of truth may be known in this nation, that we have no God but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Jesus is lord indeed.” Jesus as Lord of America was also a theme at America for Jesus, as was the need for more “fire” from churches. The line-up included Garlow, Pat Robertson, Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver, pseudo-historian David Barton, self-proclaimed apostle Cind…

In Latest Round of LGBTQ Discrimination Cases Before SCOTUS, Religion Is ‘The Elephant in the Room’

By Patrick Hornbeck

…or transgender. These disputes, involving a gay skydiving instructor from New York, a gay county employee from Georgia, and a trans funeral home director from Michigan, turn on the interpretation of a provision of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law provides that employers may not discriminate “because of” an employee’s or prospective employee’s “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” The fired employees are arguing that…

Errol Morris’ Tabloid Sensationalizes Mormonism and ‘Cult’ Deprogramming

By David Mihalyfy

…ot for McKinney. “Deprogramming” Was All the Rage Although never using the word “deprogramming,” McKinney and her accomplice use the word “cult” and “brainwashing,” both of which practically beg for further elaboration—which Morris never provides. Designation of certain socially marginal religious groups as “cults” was widespread in the 1970s and 1980s, and was often accompanied by the abduction and “deprogramming” of adult members. What happens w…

Sit Down and Shut Up: Pulling Mindfulness Up By Its (Buddhist) Roots

By Max Zahn

…Reverend Toshikazu Kenjitsu Nakagaki, president of the Buddhist Council of New York. “It’s used to improve business. So the purpose is fundamentally different.” Do these differences matter? Things change. In fact, there may be no better two-word summary of Buddhist thought and history than that. “Buddhism has gone through many, many transformations from India to China to Japan,” said David McMahan, a scholar of Buddhism at Franklin and Marshall Co…

Why Faith Needs Redemptive Struggle to Be Meaningful

By Liz Theoharis

…eamble to the U.S. Constitution and why even President Obama won’t use the word “poor” when it’s one of the most prominent words and themes in the Bible. I am always reminded of the Book of James when I observe the theory and theology of Rev. Barber: The biblical writer and Rev. Barber both insist that a vital Christian faith propels us into the struggle for basic justice, that faith without redemptive struggle is dead. We all owe Rev. Barber a de…

Excommunicated For ‘Grave Scandal’ of Ordaining Women

By Roy Bourgeois

…was a “grave scandal” in the Catholic Church. When most Catholics hear the word “scandal,” they think about the thousands of priests who sexually abused children and the many bishops who covered up their horrific crimes—not the ordination of women. I wrote the Vatican saying that my conscience would not allow me to recant. I stated that our conscience is sacred because it always urges us to do what is right, what is just. In essence, I said, you…

What’s a Faith-Healing Congregation to Do When Measles Hits?

By Rob Shryock

…ject vaccination. If the real way to cure yourself is by chanting, praying, and meditating, why bother going through all the unpleasantness of getting a needle stuck in your arm? As EMIC showed, even faith healers will sometimes make a compromise with science, allowing modern medicine its place—particularly when lives and reputations are at stake. But if George Pearsons’s sermon is any indication, these compromises can be very short-lived….

State as Executioner: Rick Perry Did Not Invent the Death Penalty

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…as the plight of “the disappeared.” This was after an almost theatrically brutal German occupation in the Second World War (1 million died of famine in the first winter, countless more in reprisal killings and mass destructions in 1943-1944), and an even more toxic civil war that lasted from 1946 to 1949. Greeks know what the excessive deployment of state power looks like, and with their long historical memory, they deem it unthinkable that a mode…

Protest Greets the Honoring of Rev. H. Eddie Fox at Emory’s Candler School of Theology

By John Blevins

…culty or senior staff are welcomed if they agree to abide by the unwritten rules of the glass closet: feel free to speak about LGBT inclusion as a matter of justice but don’t self-identify or risk losing your position. It creates an environment in which other faculty and staff offer private affirmations behind closed doors but keep their distance when conflict arises. In honoring Eddie Fox, Candler’s leadership gave formal institutional assent to…

Losing Their ‘Religion’

By Rachel Gordan

…th many other segments of the wider American culture Jews seem to find the word “religion” unappealing. This isn’t new. For much of history, “religion” in America has meant Christianity, and until the latter half of the 20th century the most salient part of Christianity, for most Jews, was its anti-semitism. And yet, at times—partly out of a love for America—Jews in this country have made a real effort to “do religion.” It’s been a complicated thr…