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Nadia Bolz-Weber on Becoming ‘God’s Bitch’

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…15 to 18 different people who, when they walked in, took one of the reader cards off the table. It’s self-selected. No one has to deem them worthy or good enough. Just that alone makes a huge difference. Additionally, we’re very deep into the ancient practices of the church. The ancient liturgy of the church has its own integrity. For people who are prone to cynicism, to have something that’s 1,300 years old, we don’t feel like we have to constant…

Pope Francis Distances Himself Further from the Right in New Interview

By Peter Montgomery

…ise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel. The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral consequences then flow. And some words that cannot be pleasing to hard-right elements in the church who are already none too pleased with Pope Francis: If the Christian is a restorationist, a legalist, if he w…

The Irony of the American Studies Israel Boycott

By Jon Pahl

…redictably stirred a flurry of comment over the holidays. Most recently, a number of prominent scholars and institutions have come out in opposition (though it should be noted that Hogwarts has thrown its fictitious weight behind the resolution). At the risk of piling on, there are significant reasons well beyond “academic freedom” (claimed by both sides in this debate) to oppose this action. To lay my cards on the table—I have attended the ASA n…

A Frustrated Romney Loses Lead in SC

By Joanna Brooks

…anti-Mormonism that we saw in 2008, when Romney opponents mailed Christmas cards bearing the Romney family picture alongside approving quotes about God and His plural wives from nineteenth-century Mormon leaders. Political reporters on the scene are saying that the base may be generally less concerned with Mitt’s religion this year, that Mormonism may “carry less weight” and be “less of a factor.” Still, LDS folks I speak with in South Carolina co…

I Agree With Douthat, Church Can’t Accept Gay Marriage

By Patricia Miller

…x marriage would be to cast doubt on the entire Pope John Paul II-Benedict moral framework around sexuality and that’s a house of cards the church can’t mess with….

Visit From Conservative Sex Educator Divides a Town

By Eric C. Miller

…. Pressed for an explanation, the administration cited “an increase in the number of students who share concerns related to the pressures of dating and sex,” though it did not explain how that increase has been measured. An editorial from Lancaster Newspapers–hardly an exemplar of liberal media–criticized the district for “wasting” taxpayer money, adding, “Educators should educate, not terrify, not least because studies have shown that scaring tee…

Vatican Enlists Allies Against Gay Marriage; Iranian Gays Pushed to Change Gender; And More in This Week’s Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…e shifts resonate far from Latin America. One-quarter of the 473,000 green cards issued in the U.S. in 2013 went to people from Central and South America, and the vast majority of undocumented immigrants come from there, so those immigrants are playing an increasingly larger role in shaping public opinion in the U.S. That can change the way American political parties shape their campaigns targeting Hispanics, how businesses advertise to them and h…

Trendwatch: Thieves Taking the Christ out of Christmas. Literally.

By Daniel Silliman

…it funny. In Fargo, where the thieves have not been caught, the crime was credited to “delinquents who surely have a rich sense of irony.” Stealing the baby Jesus is different than other petty theft in its potential for irony. It is a provocative act, in ways most other thefts aren’t. It has the power to upset monsignors and other religious authorities and the kind of people who pay $500 for a representation of an omnipotent God born as a poor ba…

Will “Rights” Claims Tip the Scales Against Gay Marriage?

By Eric C. Miller

…right to marry” and “marriage equality.” Rights and equality are the trump cards of political liberalism, and these are arguably the two most potent frames in American political discourse. Supporters of traditional marriage have lacked a counter-argument that could stand up to these effective declarations. Arguments regarding tradition, nature, and children seemed to lose to those of rights, especially for the young who are more susceptible to rig…

Predicting the Future of Religion: A Thought Experiment

By Ed Simon

…nt foreign policy outside of its borders? The Pew Study indicates that the number of Jews in the world will remain constant even as the religion’s adherents grow older. What will Israel look like in the twenty-first century? With Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on holding to a hardline definition of Jewish identity in relation to the state will we see an increasingly religious Israeli state moving away from the secular origins of Zionism? Is the w…