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Common Ground: Winning the Battle, Losing the Culture War

By Chip Berlet

…tes. What are these concerns? Primarily it is the economy; but also poverty, war, corruption, the environment, education, health care, and more. Green and colleague Geoffrey C. Layman concluded after a major study of voting demographics: “The cultural wars are waged by limited religious troops on narrow policy fronts under special political leadership.” These facts are neither new nor news except, perhaps, inside the Beltway. “White evangelicals a…

Why David Brooks Doesn’t Get the Outrage Over AIG

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…ing from the widespread realization that high-level money managers had lied, or stolen, to amass millions knowing all the while that there was no real money around to cover their debts. They kept the cash and we inherited the debt. All the rest is smoke and mirrors. AIG has clarified the popular mind. There’s no need for deep psychological nuance to see that people are angry and with good reason. That is why AIG is the scandal du jour. Now these s…

Six Overlooked Gems from the Future of World Religions Report

By Timothy King

…earchers categorized as “unaffiliated” roughly 1.1 billion people worldwide, a number that’s likely to climb to 1.2 billion by 2040, before it begins to drop. During the same period, the global population will be growing at a much faster rate, meaning that the “unaffiliated” portion of the population is likely to shrink from 16.4% in 2010 to 13.2% by 2050. In other words, the “rise of the nones” does not spell the end of organized religion. It’s i…

How an 1843 Revelation on Polygamy Poses a Serious Challenge to Modern Mormonism

By Benjamin E. Park

…and both men and women were barred from the temple. During this long tenure, a number of prominent LDS leaders provided theological justification for the practice, and many claimed that the policy had revelatory origins. In recent years the church has distanced itself from those ideas, however. Though the ‘Gospel Topics’ essay (similar to Catholic Dogma) they produced on the issue falls short of explicitly declaring the past practice a human mista…

Busy Days For ‘eBay of Prophecy’

By Bill Berkowitz

…d into the White House, unpacked even so much as an overnight bag, suitcase, trunk, or toy chest, the braying from the religious right began. While Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink.com regularly features updates on Obama’s activities—or associated rumors about the President-elect’s possible moves—Lou Sheldon’s Traditional Values Coalition has initiated a project called “Obama Watch.” From James Dobson’s Focus on the Family: In “Obama’s FCC Advise…

Record Number of Stealth Creationism Bills Introduced in 2011

By Lauri Lebo

…says that educators may not be prohibited from “helping students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught.” As always, since intelligent design was ruled unconstitutional in Kitzmiller v. Dover, the introduced bills rely on such creationist code words as “teaching the controversy,” “academic freedom,” or “cri…

Richard Cizik Questions Franklin Graham On Islam

By Sarah Posner

…ey can have that assurance of Heaven, and I want them to know that.” Graham, though, maintains that it’s Christianity that is being disparaged while Islam gets a “free pass.” Brody agreed on the double standard: “It’s hard to argue that there is NOT a double standard here. Don’t offend the Muslims but its OK to offend the Christians.” Huh? Were there Muslims asking for a day of prayer at which they said all the Christians are going to hell? Graha…

African Religious leaders complain about Obama advocacy for LGBT rights; Ultra-Orthodox Man Stabs Jerusalem Pride Parade Marchers, Again; Struggles over sexuality in Islam, Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican Churches; Global LGBT recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry in Mt. Rainier, Md., is among those who also back the request. “Many LGBT people and family members have experienced a resurgence of hope for full acceptance in our church as a result of your words and reports of personal meetings with LGBT people,” reads the letter. “We see your visit to the U.S. as an opportunity for you to hear from us how central our faith is to our lives, and to wor…

Euthanasia Billboards, Post-Rapture Pet Care, Can You Tell a Burqa from a Hijab?

By Michael J. Altman

…appens to Fido or Mr. Boots after you’re raptured? Eternal Earth-bound Pets, USA is a group of atheists willing to take care of your pet after you’ve been taken to glory. Tuesday marked the 41st anniversary of the moon landing. What did evangelicals think about it, at the time? NPR offers a view into religious life in China. So far, the series has profiled women imams, Protestants, and Catholics. Sufis from Pakistan brought ancient devotional musi…

The Most Important Religious Category of the Primaries, the Non-Religious, Doesn’t Break Down as Cleanly as You Think

By Daniel Schultz

…es—and it was won by Mike Bloomberg and Tulsi Gabbard. As with partisanship, race, and region, then, it’s important not to conflate age and religious views when considering how people vote. While it’s generally true that young people are less religious and more liberal, that’s not always the case, and there are many other factors that can confound the picture. For example, Biden did very well in southern, more religious states, but he also did ext…