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When Rabbis Seized Control of the Synagogue: The Role of Authority in American Judaism

By Zev Eleff

…ideas and facts and reconstruct a historical moment with theses and other scholarly scaffoldings. That’s my truest agenda. If I, as a historian, and the reader, as a student of history, come out better informed and more intrigued by the complexities of religious life—then I’ve succeeded. What alternative title would you give the book? Oh, dear. The first title was Pulpits, Power and Pews. My editors at Oxford University Press, Theo Calderara and…

With New York Joining DC in Defiance Methodist Church Faces Showdown on LGBT Ordination

By Pamela R. Lightsey

…bout what progress will be made at General Conference. Many wonder whether schism is unavoidable. A more important question is whether we have the courage of our Christian convictions not to give up on love and on the grueling work of withstanding bigotry even in defiance of church laws some naively describe as sacred. There is no sacredness in bigotry. No truly divine nature which requires its worship and maintenance. If we learn nothing from the…

Culture Warriors Surrender, But Battles Rage On

By Patricia Miller

…Roberts at National Catholic Reporter notes that it mixes “footage of grim scenes of hooded and handcuffed captives and violent chaos in unidentified locations around the globe with ominous talk of government ‘harassment’ of and existential threats to religious institutions in the United States,” in addition to dire warnings about the government infringing on the right of American to practice their faith. And just recently, Baltimore Archbishop Wi…

Anti-Gay Campaign In Indonesia Leads to Arrests; Mexico’s Religious Right Wars Against Secular State & LGBT Equality; Muslim Preacher Sparks Controversy in UK Re Death Penalty For Gays; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…they will still have to go to court. Australia: LGBT Advocates Block Plebiscite, Seek Marriage Equality Vote in Parliament As LGBT equality advocates declared they would rather wait longer for marriage equality than be subjected to a nationwide plebiscite and debate, members of the opposition Labor Party killed the government’s plans for the national vote and called again for a free vote in the parliament. CNN has profiled some of the couples who…

Public Shrines to Treason: Charlottesville and the Cult of Confederate Memorialization

By Spencer Dew

…poke of the Lost Cause as a “cult,” one “on the wrong side of humanity,” discourse historian of religion Martin Marty described as prophetic, a religious voice rejecting another religion as idolatry. “Unite the Right” called attention to this, that dueling visions of America—American history and expectations for and patterns of an American future—are more than just differences of opinion, they are radically divergent worldviews, with separate syst…

Ten Religion Stories That Went (Mostly) Missing in 2015

By Peter Laarman

…ng that it took a journalist who is not primarily a religion writer, Stacy Schiff, to point a finger at the clear line of descent from the paranoid Puritans to today’s “keep them out” backlash against Muslims and all refugees from the Middle East. 4. Social media and spiritual life. People have written a fair amount about social media’s impact on relationships and intellectual life but not so much on what we used to call devotional life. There’s a…

Catholic Bishops’ Religious Liberty Fight Enables Anti-Jewish Discrimination (Updated)

By Patricia Miller

…e agencies like Catholic Charities, which have professionalized staff and eschew proselytization. In their eagerness to secure their right to discriminate against same-sex couples as a last-ditch protest against the legalization and acceptance of same-sex marriage, the Catholic bishops appear willing to enable other faith-based actors who use social service agencies as a means to an end. When Texas passed the “Freedom to Serve Children Act,” which…

Most U.S. Catholics Back Marriage Equality, But Knights of Columbus Pour Millions into Opposition

By Peter Montgomery

…the Vatican and in US political circles, including William Lori, Bishop of Baltimore and head of the bishops’ anti equality efforts who also serves as the Knights’ “Supreme Chaplain.” Other right-wing groups such as the Federalist Society, the Howard Center for Family, and Religion & Society (which sponsors the World Congress of Families) have been funded by the Knights, but among the largest recipients is the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, wh…

‘Religious Freedom’: Constitutional Principle or Electoral Politics?

By Frances Kissling

…m following the law on contraceptive insurance, but also to assert without scrutiny that any number of health services violate its religious beliefs. In her interview with Kaiser Health News, Sr. Keehan acknowledged that the CHA still has “some very real concerns in the Church that even if you get rid of the coverage of contraceptives, [there may be] problems in the future.” Up to now, the administration has followed a strategy that is political,…

The Papal Prayer Machine

By Peter Manseau

…eposts magazine, offers a description of its service that could serve as a script for heaven’s own automated telephone response system: “Your prayer concerns are important to us,” OurPrayer.org says, “and that’s why each and every prayer request we receive is prayed for by a trained volunteer by name and by need.” Such uses of Twitter make it part of a long tradition of technology’s tendency to remake faith in its own image. According to Franklin…