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‘We’re all in this together’: The Perils of Kumbaya Rhetoric

By Peter Laarman

…ate their strength in relation to smaller businesses and as the American caste system grows still more rigid and more suffocating for those at the bottom. In a searing exploration of the liberal mindset in relation to policing, Yannick Marshall notes how the repeated mantra of “We will hold them accountable!” in the mouths of the liberals “assumes the benevolence of the violent” and functions to obscure the centuries-long persistence of lethal ant…

The Problem with Christian Gentlemen: A Short Goodbye to Ted Cruz, the “Mr. Pecksniff” of Presidential Politics

By Peter Laarman

…ge, as Pecksniff’s interlocutors don’t quite know what to do with this almost fantastical level of bullsh*t. Dickens clearly loathes his fictional creation but also appears at times to admire Pecksniff’s immense skill in self-justification and self-congratulation. Dickens makes the most of Pecksniff by giving him a number of interior monologues, as here when Pecksniff is rationalizing his decision to pimp out his younger daughter at a rather cheap…

Is the Satanic Temple Just an Elaborate Prank? 10 Questions for the Author of ‘Speak of the Devil’

By Joseph Laycock

…te that, “All progress depends on the unreasonable man.” As I continued to study TST, I realized this wasn’t just a daring rhetorical move but the birth of a new religious movement. What’s the most important take-home message for readers at this cultural moment? TST is changing the public conversation about religious freedom and religion itself. I see TST as testing America on the values we profess. Most Americans claim to value tolerance and reli…

In a Time of Irrational Fear and New Media: The Deadly ‘Dance Plague’ at 500

By Ed Simon

…er bites. Regarding such comparisons, Barbara Ehrenreich in Dancing in the Street: A History of Collective Joy reasons that “rye does not grow in Italy, nor do tarantulas menace Germans,” concluding that nothing ingested has been “found to induce anything resembling dancing mania.” Witnessing the Strasbourg pandemonium, and without better explanation, the German humanist Otto Brunfuls compared it to a variant of ancient Dionysian cults that would…

Must We Burn Something to Get Attention?: 50 Years After the Catonsville Nine

By Jason C. Bivins

…’s relocation in Israel, when the Vice President of the United States understands Christianity as a “get out of jail free” card used to freely exercise open bigotry, it can seem pretty conclusive that power has prevailed over justice. But consider some other words of Daniel Berrigan’s: “Redeem the times! The times are inexpressibly evil. Christians pay conscious, indeed religious tribute, to Caesar and Mars . . . And yet, and yet, the times are in…

Must We Burn Something to Get Attention?: 50 Years After the Catonsville Nine

By Jason C. Bivins

…’s relocation in Israel, when the Vice President of the United States understands Christianity as a “get out of jail free” card used to freely exercise open bigotry, it can seem pretty conclusive that power has prevailed over justice. But consider some other words of Daniel Berrigan’s: “Redeem the times! The times are inexpressibly evil. Christians pay conscious, indeed religious tribute, to Caesar and Mars . . . And yet, and yet, the times are in…

Why Conservatives Really Oppose Federal Aid for the ‘Undeserving’

By Daniel Schultz

…sacred — a type of knowledge Trump has never displayed. To him, choosing Easter must have been like selecting Independence Day or Arbor Day or Groundhog Day — a useful date on which to hang a ploy. Likewise, Paul Waldman is baffled by Lindsey Graham’s attacks on nurses: “You know, the ones who right now are risking their lives to treat coronavirus patients, and are in some cases forced to wear trash bags because their hospitals have run out of pro…

First Things First: Sexual Equality Just Is

By Kate Blanchard

…er, but today’s women may not feel obligated to put up with mediocre sex just to stroke their partners’ egos. And isn’t stroking male egos what this is really about? “Needing each other makes us want each other,” Regnerus writes, suggesting that in order to feel turned on, men need to feel superior to their partners, while women need to feel dependent upon theirs. Were he making a Christian argument, he might have cited God’s punishment to Eve in…

On the 40th Anniversary of Hyde, A Theological Defense of Reproductive Justice

By Anita Little

…liticians, but also from black male clergy? To answer that question, we first must acknowledge the history surrounding the bodies of women of color. Particularly, for black women, our bodies have never been our own. After we left enslavement, it became very important for us to counteract those stereotypes of us as lascivious and sexually predatory. One of the ways we did that was through this hyper-surveillance of black women’s bodies and this ide…

Can I Get Some Birth Control Pills With That Slushie?: Unpacking the Contraceptive Mandate Rollback

By Sunnivie Brydum

…merican who happens to have a uterus. But the rambling draft rule—which is still listed as pending on OBM’s website and which seems to have wholly skipped the requisite public comment period—is part of a larger, broader campaign waged by the Trump Administration and its right-wing allies. To unpack the deep historical, religious, and conservative culture war roots of this sweeping effort to roll back access to safe, effective birth control, I turn…