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Holey Holey Holey: The Problem with a New Study Valuing Religion at $1.2 Trillion Per Year

By Michael Schulson

…o “[educate] the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business.” Melissa is an RFBF research fellow at the Newseum Institute. Their $1.16 trillion estimate is a staggering amount of money—something like 7% of the United States’ GDP. It’s also, on reflection, a somewhat silly figure. How do you possibly estimate the economic value of something as gigantic and amorphous as American religion? And even if you do pin down a…

Does Record Number of Religious “Nones” Mean Decline of Religiosity?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…e most likely to be found among Millennials (32%), GenXers (21%) and Baby Boomers (15%) have likewise grown among the population of Nones; Fewer than half (48%) of American adults say they are Protestant—the first time self-identified Protestants have fallen below 50% in Pew surveys; More than two-thirds of Nones (68%) believe in God, with more than half (51%) praying on a regular basis; Two-thirds of those surveyed (66%) say religion is losing it…

Malawi Catholic Bishops Call For Enforcement of Sodomy Law; Ukrainian Thugs Disrupt Equality Festival Opposed by Orthodox Church; Indonesian Islamists Continue Rhetorical War on LGBTs; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…the will of God because of money…We call upon all Catholics and people of good will to stand up for what is morally right today in the face of the hugely funded campaign for homosexual rights and unions. Ukraine: Orthodox Church Opposes Equality Festival; Right-Wing Thugs Violently Disrupt It Equality advocates reported that right-wing protesters disrupted plans for an equality festival planned in Lviv for last weekend, saying LGBT activists were…

Crisis in Sudan: ‘If the World Stands Idly By This Time, They Will Bring Genocide’

By Frederick Clarkson

…l, a small brick structure, very humble by Western Anglican standards—was looted and burned, as was his home. Andudu came to Washington to call on the international community to intervene in order to save his people. In so doing he carries a Christian message at odds with those voices seemingly eager for religious war with Islam. As the head of an Episcopal interfaith committee in South Kordofan, he says he maintains good relationships with many A…

A Matter of the Heart: Talking to Gay Christian Rocker Jennifer Knapp

By Kristin Rawls

…that you can’t have both [sexuality and faith]. You’re under pressure to choose one or the other, and I anticipated that. But it was such a personal journey for me that I didn’t really think about the impact that it would have on a public level. It was definitely an empowering decision to make, but I had no clue about the impact it would have. That such diverse people would show up at shows or that I’d get this press attention. Or that I would mee…

Report from Paris During COP21: Let Us Not Commit Global Suicide

By Donna Schaper

Day One If you are someone who thinks it is already too late to keep the climate’s temperature from going significantly above 2 degrees Celsius (about 4 degrees Fahrenheit), COP21 is the place for you to be. The outside is fascinating, the inside oblique. It reminds me of every United Church of Christ General Synod I have ever attended: all the action is on the border between the inside and the outside. We will probably save the rich and not the…

The Religious Right’s Apocalyptic Visions of an Obama Presidency

By Bill Berkowitz

…fund abortions. “In several states, it could be illegal to own a gun.” “Proof” that these events could happen is contained in the 15-page letter from an anonymous author known only as “a Christian from 2012.” In its introductory note to the “Letter,” Focus on the Family Action points out that “the most reliable way of predicting people’s future actions is by looking at their past actions,” concluding: “So here is a picture of the changes that are…

It’s Not Raining Eligible Muslim Men

By Shabana Mir

…elplessly; there are few that I’d introduce to them with confidence. The “good ones” are married, engaged, or perpetually single/looking. I can think of a number that I wouldn’t be comfortable marrying myself—too immature, too socially inept, professionally unstable (the perpetual graduate student, for instance), equipped with outdated gender norms, momma’s boy… I could go on. It’s not that Muslim women don’t have problems. But there are so many o…

Dirty Money in the Appalachian Church: Six Years After Deadly Coal Mine Disaster, Where Are We Now?

By Michael J. Iafrate

…n Montcoal, West Virginia that killed twenty-nine coal miners. I will not soon forget that Saturday’s vigil Mass homily when the soft-spoken pastor declared those responsible for the explosion—executives of Massey Energy, including CEO Don Blankenship—should be charged with murder. In that Wheeling, West Virginia parish, one of the wealthiest in the state, I believe I heard the prophetic gospel being proclaimed. Soon after, that priest was transfe…

Students at Conservative Catholic College Speak After Sudden Cancellation of Pro-Gay Speaker

By Rob Shryock

…rovidence’s student body has reacted with outrage. On Thursday, students flooded Providence College’s ’64 center for an open-forum/protest called “Fighting for Academic Freedom.” At the meeting, a number of LGBT students made clear that they were profoundly upset by the administration’s decision. One student noted that the college’s actions had “further alienated the LGBT community”; that Lena’s decision implied that LGBT people were not “creatur…