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Paul Ryan Is Like Jesus, But It’s Not What You Think

By Sarah Posner

…released a video attempting to defend his views against Evangelii Gaudium. Best “who, me?” line: “Who is advocating a market without regulations, without law?” On the Eternal Word Television Network program The World Over last week, Bishop Robert Morlino, the bishop of Madison, Wisconsin, discussed a portion of Evangelii Gaudium in which the Pope writes about welfare and a “welfare mentality.” It seems fairly clear that Francis isn’t being Reagane…

When Religion Becomes a Trap Rather Than a Safety Net

By Holly Welker

…divorce.” What sorts of beliefs and fears compelled her to try to make the best of what she knew was a terrible situation? How did she perceive what was supposed to be a loving, empowering religion as one that did not allow her to admit or correct mistakes? Everybody—including my dad’s mom, who my mother was close to at the time—told her, “Don’t do this. Don’t marry him.” And Mom said, “No, I’m marrying him.” I think as much as anything she was as…

A Report from America’s “Sacrifice Zones”

By Chris Hedges

…ho would buy it or if it would sell. We focused only on producing the very best work we could, a work we were proud of, a work that spoke to us and hopefully would speak to others. Are you hoping to just inform readers? Give them pleasure? Piss them off? I am hoping they will wake up to the corporate forces arrayed against them, forces that if left unchecked will doom the future of their children. You cannot, as Joe and I were, be around so much…

How Conservative Christian Women Came to Claim “True” Feminism

By Eric C. Miller

…e. That was where my interest in rhetoric really began. I thought that the best way to dissect the persuasive power of the Christian Right was to choose a particularly influential group that was not only representative of the larger movement, but one that held formidable influence over the sex and gender issues that are so central to almost every other platform that the movement supports. CWA was a natural choice: it has a noteworthy presence on c…

Trump’s Evangelical Support in the Gut, not the Theology

By Donovan Schaefer

…ly ugly and offered with a sneer. The irony is that the candidates who are best at affect-masking this year (Rubio and Kasich) are falling behind. They seem moderate, which would make them palatable in November. But the Republican rank and file—including a plurality of right-wing evangelicals—don’t want politicians who seem moderate. They want the masks off and the lights on; they want double the fury, double the contempt, double the fear. Trump’s…

When it Comes to Societal Dominion, the Details Matter: A Reporter’s Guide to the New Apostolic Reformation, Part II

By Frederick Clarkson and André Gagné

…m the well-defined offices of traditional denominations, everything NAR is best understood as a work in progress. Fortunately, NAR founders and current leaders have some working definitions, as they figure out how to seize the 21st Century with their vision of First Century Christianity. Movement founder C. Peter Wagner distinguished between those who possess the gift (mentioned by God in 1 Corinthians 12) and those who hold the office of apostle….

Is Torture Utilitarian?

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…The revelation of these memoranda and of the use of such techniques is the best recruiting tool we could ever have given to al-Qaeda. Again, does waterboarding have utility or not? Does it create more pain than pleasure? These questions have pretty well defined the contours of the current debate. Buried near the end (at page 37) of the fourth memorandum, dated May 30, 2005, is a discussion that gives away the lie that this is a debate about utilit…

Convergence of Far-Right, Anti-Democratic Factions in the Northwest Could Provide a Model for the Rest of the Nation

By Frederick Clarkson and Cloee Cooper

…7-8. The event featured such notable figures as Rev. Scott Lively, perhaps best known as an advocate for the notorious “Kill the Gays” legislation in Uganda, and retired Army Major, Stephen Coughlin, a former high level military intelligence analyst and Fellow at the White House National Security Council. The publications of Coughlin’s think tank, Unconstrained Analytics, argue that Black Lives Matter in conjunction with ISIS, Antifa, Neo-Marxists…

The Case for Treating Near-Death Experiences Like Acid Trips

By Andrew Aghapour

…nre of first-hand accounts of near-death journeys to a supernatural realm. Best-selling books including Proof of Heaven, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, and Heaven Is For Real share two elements, which are both captured in this trailer for the 2014 film adaptation of Heaven Is For Real : First, these accounts of near-death experiences emphasize how close the person was to biological death. It was a “miracle” that young Colton even survived, jus…

The Two Faces of New Atheism

By Konstantin Petrenko

…galvanize American nonbelievers and turn atheist manifestos into national bestsellers. When President Obama acknowledged nonbelievers in his inaugural address, he recognized a group of people who had previously been invisible in American politics. Of course atheists remain a distrusted and despised minority, and it will take time for politicians to begin to acknowledge personal disbelief publicly, but for the first time, led by a group of articul…