Religion Dispatches
…who wants a Christian president, particularly one who would revise the tax code “so we can rejoice together because it would stimulate economic growth.” (Huckabee’s hosted debate, though, this past weekend, was more of a snooze than a circus.) In 2008 Huckabee got a fundraising boost from Kenneth Copeland, Word of Faith megastar. Copeland, at the time under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee for misuse of tax-deductible donor funds, cla…
Read More…nce anywhere between 30 years and life in prison. Their Colonial-era penal code criminalises anyone who “has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature.” Earlier this year, Tanzania stopped health clinics from providing HIV services, saying they “cater to homosexuals.” It is believed 33,000 people in Tanzania died from AIDS-related illnesses last year, and 1.4 million are living with the disease nationwide. Romania: Journalist disc…
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While everyone (including me) was busy blasting North Carolina for its latest (unconstitutional) effort to undo marriage equality, the Texas Senate quietly passed a bill that would allow county clerks to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples if marriage equality violates the clerk’s “sincerely held religious belief.” Senate Bill 522 passed the Senate Tuesday on a primarily partisan vote, and now heads to the Republican-controlled House. If…
Read More…er judged a vehicle for courting the religious right in psalmic and hymnic code, Palin is delivering a very clear message to religion-savvy listeners, who hear in her call for “servant’s hearts” the message of twenty years’ worth of “complementarian” sermons, exhorting Christians to be “servant-leaders” and, among women, to view their highest calling in service to male leadership: willing helpmeets to their husbands’, fathers’ and pastors’ authori…
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…hing the sins of a lost city, some prescriptions in the Israelite holiness code, and the Apostle Paul on the consequences of pagan idolatry. Or so the passages read to me.) Calling out the numbers is not meant to start a conversation about what these biblical passages might mean—or about how different Christian communities have decided to determine the applied meaning of any verse in their version of the Bible. The verses are often cited in church…
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…s like the New Republic and Rolling Stone (among others) from labeling his latest posting spree “fascist,” as well as “vulgar,” “unhinged,” “crazed,” and “violent.” At a certain point, we become so inundated with lies, conspiracy theories, grifts, nonsensical Jaws ripoffs, and the sharing of posts from horrific antisemites and racists that we start to shut down when presented with new ones. QAnon, for example, has become so deeply ingrained in far…
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…ure poses, and, in some extreme cases, distinguishing features is only the latest stop on the elevator ride up from the basement of the religious unconscious—the postmodern return of one of the most primitive manifestations of the fan mind, namely, ritual cannibalism, in which participants absorb an enemy’s magical powers by eating his flesh. Following Freud’s analysis, in Totem and Taboo, of the Christian Eucharist as a revival of that ancient to…
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…adapt and incorporate new bills, similar campaigns have adapted and widely promoted Project Blitz-type bills,” Alison Gill, the chief legislative analyst at American Atheists told RD. “These efforts are best understood as a loosely affiliated network of Christian nationalist lawmakers and activists using these resources to take advantage of every opening to promote their harmful agenda.” The ongoing exposure and response to Project Blitz has taugh…
Read More…uments on government land. In 2019, the Supreme Court will hear one of the latest such disputes, which concerns a giant Latin cross situated along a highway near the Maryland–D.C. border. The 40-foot Peace Cross, erected in 1925, is falling into disrepair, and when the local government set aside $100,000 for its renovation, the American Humanist Association sued, arguing that public funding for the memorial is unconstitutional because the memorial…
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…a few important things that have to be said first. In case you missed this latest episode of U.S. religious debate, the facts are pretty simple. Earlier this month, Teen Vogue posted an article on anal sex under the heading “Sexual Health & Identity.” (Deep breath! Yes, you have just read the phrase “anal sex” and not on a porn site. Religious debates lead us to many unusual topics.) Written in a cheery tone, the short article moves from basic ana…
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