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No Conspiracy Theories Needed: Abortion Foes Cry Racism

By Kathryn Joyce

…onplace language of an “abortion Holocaust”—comparing their fight to the struggle for civil rights or abolition. Lynching is for Amateurs Lately, however, anti-abortion groups don’t simply seize the mantle of abolitionism, but argue directly that abortion is a concerted attack on people of color. Black and brown populations are, according to the new rhetoric, allegedly targeted for aggressive population control by abortion providers who deliberate…

Wheaton and the “Same God” Controversy: A Theological Opportunity Squandered?

By Benjamin Dueholm

…eligious communities was typically convivial, either on the page or in the world. But the idea that Christians and Muslims are addressing the same object when they pray or confess their faith is not new—and it is hardly marginal in the history of Christianity. These particular examples are not strictly weight-bearing where Wheaton College is concerned; it seems that neither Pope Francis nor Thomas Aquinas would be eligible to teach there in any ca…

Festivus, Atheist Santa, and the Invention of Blasphemy

By Anita Little

…hen it enters into a larger social context. There are a lot of those who struggle with what is sacred and why it’s sacred and to figure that out, you have to profane it a little bit. You have to push on the line between sacred and profane. For one group, there is a clear line between what is sacred and what is profane, whereas the other side believes the line is somewhere else—that’s where the clash comes. For example, Jesus has become such a comm…

Did Religious Universities Just Get a License to Discriminate?

By Patricia Miller

The news that more than two dozen religiously affiliated colleges and universities had received exemptions from the anti-discrimination provisions of Title IX demonstrates how the “religious liberty” argument continues to morph and spread. The Column reports that 36 religiously-affiliated institutions of higher learning have applied for the exemptions, 27 of which have been granted under a little used provision of Title IX that allows religiously…

Reporting from Paris: A Prayer for Polluters

By Donna Schaper

…the one with the three grandchildren. They are my clients as I write and struggle morally for wisdom. I wish I could be optimistic about COP21, the climate negotiations coming to an end in Paris. I can’t. Even if the world’s countries keep their promises — known, in the mind-numbing argot of the UN as Intended Nationally Determined Commitments — the climate reductions they are promising don’t go far enough. . . . These unenforceable “commitments”…

The Passion of Katniss: How the Hunger Games Confronts the Trauma of Violence

By Michael Schulson

…isassociation. That’s not to say that the kill-and-banter and cadaver-and-crush genres are morally bankrupt. They offer fantasies of invulnerability. They are superhero movies—and, as Prince put it, “superheroes by definition don’t ever get hurt.” I’m hesitant to moralize about fantasy. But fantasies aren’t always morally neutral. Sometimes, these films openly tackle political issues: movies like Batman and Avenger flicks express ambivalence about…

Reporting from Paris During COP21: A Haunted Sabbath

By Donna Schaper

…times and ways that politics and religion are siblings, not enemies. The Baruch 5: 1- 9 text mattered: “Take off the garment of our sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God. Put on the robe of righteousness…put on your head the diadem of glory….” The communion table was open and all were welcome to come. Plus, “Gluten free communion wafers are available.” and there was a request from the altar guild,…

Is It the Job of Religion Journalists to Define “Religion”?

By Ann Taves

…munity and engenders passionate devotion can constitute religion, does the word lose all meaning? If everything is religion, then maybe nothing is.” He questions their definition, not to assert a definition but to walk us through the definitional issues. So what then is Linker up to? Linker has a definition of religion, or more precisely a view of what religion really is that he wants to promote because he cares about religion. He’s personally inv…

Religious Right Reax to SCOTUS: “A Spiritual 9/11”

By Peter Montgomery

…is now our 9/11.” The AFA’s Tim Wildmon made the same analogy, calling the ruling a “spiritual 9/11.” Fox News’ Todd Starnes, who has been in full meltdown over the “cultural cleansing” of the Confederate battle flag, turned his attentions to the marriage ruling, warning, “If you thought the cultural purge over the Confederate flag was breathtaking – wait until you see what LGBT activists do with Christians.” He said, ridiculously, “Pastors who re…

What to Wear When Praying with the Pope

By Donna Schaper

…never thought I would hear a congressional standing ovation for the golden rule and now I have. One of the members of my women’s group, called the Sirens, kept her 11-year-old son home from school so he could hear the Pope. This pre-teen said “he sounds real.” He has a soothing voice. He says hard things with quietness appropriate to their difficulty. Somehow it can’t be accidental that the Harvest Moon rises this weekend, or that Eid-al-Adha, the…