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Republicans Tell Iowa Homeschoolers Education Not Government’s Role

By Julie Ingersoll

Yesterday, as Iowa homeschoolers lobbied their legislators to “simplify” state education regulations, three potential presidential candidates spoke to the crowd of several hundred, all agreeing that government should not “interfere” in education. Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Ron Paul each addressed the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) as the group held its annual Capitol Day, with Bachmann and Paul describing the government…

Why the Hell Does Hell Still Matter?

By Kathryn Gin

He was a prominent minister, pastoring a church with a membership in the thousands, preaching standard doctrines with a relevant twist. But then he started to doubt the concept of hell and the possibility that God would damn people who were already suffering on Earth to an afterlife of further, eternal torment. Voicing this doubt made him the target of serious, sustained criticism. Former colleagues denounced him as a heretic. Sound familiar? No,…

Graham’s Muslim Brotherhood Conspiracy Theory Not New

By Sarah Posner

At Mother Jones, David Corn writes that Franklin Graham’s conspiracy theory that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government is “new.” It’s not new — Graham certainly didn’t invent it — and that’s important not just because what Corn writes isn’t accurate. It’s essential to understand the interaction between evangelical powerbrokers, who were once thought to direct the conversation, and the right-wing echo chamber in which evangeli…

Tokyo Governor Says Tsunami is Divine Punishment—Religious Groups Ignore Him

By Levi McLaughlin

Scenes of destruction and human suffering in Japan have elicited worldwide support—both material and spiritual. But amid global calls for prayer and other religious responses, the most widely publicized religious response to the nation’s worst disaster since the Second World War comes from within Japan itself—a series of comments made by 79-year-old Tokyo Governor, Shintaro Ishihara. Ishihara, a prize-winning novelist, stage and screen actor, and…

Judgment Day is Coming; Wear Clean Underwear

By Lauri Lebo

I last wrote about the End of the World in July, so I thought it was time for an update. Apparently, it’s still scheduled for May 21. Actually, May 21 isn’t technically the end of the world. Rather, it’s the Day of Rapture, when the righteous are magically taken up to heaven. Which also means, as anyone who has read the Left Behind series knows, that suddenly pilotless planes will fall from the sky and driverless cars will crash. So folks might w…

High School Senior Leads Effort to Repeal Louisiana Anti-Evolution Law

By Lauri Lebo

I’ve long had a soft spot for young people standing up to religious bullying. So I want to give a shout out to Zack Kopplin, a Baton Rouge Magnet High School Senior. Kopplin is leading a campaign to repeal the stealth creationist law that is the 2008 Louisiana Science Eduction Act. In December, Kopplin stood up to the Louisiana Family Forum, a Christian organization that had been trying to get creationist-language inserted into state public schoo…

Tim Pawlenty’s Dilemma: How Far Will His Anti-Choice Extremism Go?

By Sarah Posner

Republican presidential hopeful and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has a problem, the same problem every GOP aspirant has: he wants to be radical enough for the party’s base, yet he has to appear anodyne enough for the rest of the country if he wins the nomination. In Pawlenty’s case, the answer to the latter call was to write an extremely dull book about himself, Courage to Stand. Conor Friedersdorf, for one, is unimpressed. Noting Pawle…

Atheists and Christians Compete to Give More

By Lauri Lebo

I get so weary of hearing that unless someone believes in a being who will condemn them to Hell if they don’t behave, they can’t possibly be a good person. It seems to never end, this debate over who is more moral—Christians or those who don’t believe in God. But you know, if atheists and Christians are going to brawl, at least they should brawl over something that actually makes the world a little bit better of a place. Which is why I get a kick…

A Meditation on Shopping and Desire

By Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado

Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of choice. —Dave Barry I love to shop. This questionable passion led me to write a book on shopping. I will also confess, like any good Catholic, that guilt is a motivator here as well. Plagued by a consumerist culture that defines our worth and value by what we spend, yet informed by a Christian ethical vision that at…

War on Christmas, War on Schmistmas, Happy Holiday

By Julie Ingersoll

Today I told someone I won’t see again until the first of the year that I hoped he would have a happy holiday. This genuinely warm wish generated an unsettling response in which I was accused of participating in a “war on Christmas” in favor of “political correctness.” For the record, I am in no “war on Christmas.” I am not a Christian and have no desire to regulate how Christians celebrate this holiday. Nor have I engaged in any effort to limit…