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Billy Graham Regrets Political Involvement, Again

By Randall Balmer

…raham tried to persuade Ford to appear onstage at one of Graham’s revival crusades, and Graham made no secret of the fact that he understood the political benefits that would accrue to Ford if he did so. What made the 1976 campaign tricky for Graham, however, was that Ford’s Democratic challenger, Jimmy Carter, was, like Graham himself, both a Southern Baptist and a self-professed “born-again” Christian. The fact that Graham was maneuvering agains…

Tea Partiers and Religious Right Court at Values Voter Summit

By Sarah Posner

…that before running (unsuccessfully) for state senate and city council in New York, she attended classes at the Providence Foundation, a small group based in Charlottesville, Virginia that has been described as Christian Reconstructionist. According to Chip Berlet, senior analyst at Political Research Associates and an expert on right-wing political movements: Christian Reconstructionism, which calls for Old Testament biblical law to take precede…

The Moral Case for Trump?

By Eric C. Miller

…sonally speak highly of his kindness, thoughtfulness, and generosity. For Grudem, Trump’s success in business is a testament to his character. It “shows” that he isn’t actually racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic or misogynistic—though exactly how it shows this is anyone’s guess. Grudem “thinks” Trump is a sincere patriot, but never says why. He touts Trump’s “problem solving” in business, but without noting the sleaziness that has often accompan…

Republican Gomorrah Documents the Christian Right Takeover of the GOP

By Chip Berlet

…ocalyptically-aroused participants in the Christian Right’s new political crusades, this involves the struggle against Satan in the End Times. If you think that references to the Crusades are far fetched, consider that at the Christian Right’s 2009 Values Voter Summit in Washington DC, the exhibit hall had a table from the ultra-right Catholic group Tradition, Family, Property (TFP) for whom the Crusades and Inquisition were high points of Christi…

Don’t Let Bigoted Campaigns Sour You to the Revolutionary Idea of Religious Freedom

By Frederick Clarkson

…casion together is the question we face. And as dire as our moment can sometimes seem, as media outlets hype the news of the day—democracy and its institutions are not that far gone. Not yet. As powerful as the theocrats have become, there are still a lot more of us than there are of them. Religious Freedom Day affords us the opportunity to discuss all this, as we search for fresh and bold ways forward. To have those discussions, we also need to r…

Boos, Jews, and Progressive Religion at DNC

By Daniel Schultz

…Warren’s line that “We are not going to be Trump’s hate-filled America” might have been its most important religious statement. Warren—a Methodist like Hillary Clinton—may not have name-checked God or cited scripture in her speech, but she did mention religious bigotry several times among Donald Trump’s other sins. I at least see an implied theology in her statement that refuses “the politics of fear and division” in favor of being a reconciled,…

Trump May Be “a Big Fan of Hindu,” But Hindus Are Running—and Winning—as Democrats

By Murali Balaji

…n the process. Yet for far too long, some of the largest-growing groups in New Jersey have been on the sidelines in politics,” he said. “That’s why our campaign is doing unprecedented outreach to underrepresented groups, including millennials and ethnic communities.” Jois is also running against the Democratic establishment, which backed a decades-long Washington insider, Tom Malinowski in the crowded Democratic Party. Jois views the narrative of…

Beth Moore’s Departure Could Hurt Southern Baptists and Move Them Further Right

By Daniel Schultz

…ckwaves will last, or if they will spread across denominations or into the world of politics. It would be a mistake to fall into the common evangelical error of overestimating the impact of individual changes while simultaneously neglecting the importance of social trends. A talented and charismatic teacher, speaker and writer, Moore helped a generation of evangelical women form identities, if not separate from men, then not quite beholden to them…

Can a Progressive Atheist Defeat the Democrats’ “Family” Man in NC?

By Sarah Jaffe

…he few Democratic members of The Family, the organization described by The New Yorker as a “frat house for Jesus.” The Family has ties to Ugandan anti-gay legislation, as well as to unsavory governments around the world. Jeff Sharlet, in his 2008 book The Family, describes their theology: It’s Protestant, to be sure, though there are Catholic members. Its leadership regards with disdain not only the mainline denominations, but also evangelicals…

Jesus Hates Taxes: Biblical Capitalism Created Fertile Anti-Union Soil

By Peter Montgomery

…er the November 2010 elections, Barton, Newt Gingrich, and Jim Garlow (who runs Gingrich’s Renewing American Leadership group), held a conference call with pastors to celebrate conservative political gains. On the call, Garlow and Barton asserted a biblical underpinning for far-right economic policies: Taxation and deficit spending, they said, amount to theft, a violation of the Ten Commandments. The estate tax, Barton said, is “absolutely condemn…