Religion Dispatches
…America’s political elite to push for a different American approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict? How can they expect anyone in the executive branch to avoid anticipatory vetoes and start showing more courage? And how can they expect to make common cause with non-Jewish Americans who share their goals and could add political impetus for change? It is time for the anti-occupation wing of the pro-Israel community to wrest control of the conversation…
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…sting. Instead of the yearly class trips to Auschwitz, he wants Jewish and Arab Israeli schoolchildren to take trips to Spain in order to learn about when Jews and Muslims lived in Convivencia with Christians before the expulsion of 1492. He wants to rewrite the prayer book so that the line “he who has chosen us from all the nations” will now read “who has chosen us with all the nations.” Unfortunately, Burg’s book is marred by terrible writing (a…
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…s and maybe even the denomination. Maybe the United Methodist Church won’t be here anymore. But I don’t believe that means God has given up on us. Remember what Elaine Stanovsky said this morning: the church is of God, but the church isn’t God. *While John and Debbie were the first United Methodist clergy couple with membership in the Oregon-Idaho Conference, Rev. Alice Knotts, a United Methodist and her then husband, Rev. Robert Morrison, a Pre…
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…Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy Cait West Eerdmans April, 2024 Cait West’s insights could not be more urgent. At a time when conservative lawmakers and influencers idealize “tradwives” and vilify “childless cat ladies,” West draws from her experience as a survivor of the Christian patriarchy movement to expose the mythologies that sustain and reinforce it. In her work as an editorial board member for Tears of Eden (a nonprofit su…
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…econd in line to the presidency and the potential role he could play in the 2024 election. However, Johnson’s feelings about porn are every bit as important, as they are inextricably linked to his belief that the Bible should be the sole legitimate source for public policy and that the United States is a “biblical” republic. The entwinement of Johnson’s religious and political beliefs has been usefully examined and thoroughly dissected in a piece…
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…help and God’s grace, the great revival of America begins on November 5th, 2024. It’s a great revival. “Upon taking office…” Trump makes several concrete policy promises that flow from this White Christian nationalist vision. It’s not worth quoting Trump’s rambling justifications for the policy proposals he connects to this worldview. Lest anyone think Trump’s White Christian nationalism is empty rhetoric, however, this speech also included promi…
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…let us know! Coerced abortions are abuse. And abuse is criminalized in the United States, including coerced abortion. The solution to ending coerced abortion cannot be the total banning of abortion care. Data shows that it is in fact coerced pregnancy that traps pregnant people and their children in cycles of poverty and abuse. It is coerced pregnancy that keeps pregnant people from accessing educational and professional opportunities. After the H…
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…rnor of Florida and a potential challenger to former president Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Then there’s Christopher Rufo, the ideologue who’s been one of the central figures in the conservative crusade against critical race theory. Hochman cites Rufo in order to demonstrate the secular novelty of the latter’s approach to politics: “The goal is to protect these people, Middle Americans of all racial backgrounds—working class and mid…
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…s rise and controversial final months. I had first met Neiwert when he was promoting his 2017 book, Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump,3 a definitive chronicle of the rise of the Patriot, Alt Right, and MAGA movements that led to Trump’s election. Neiwert’s reporting had a unique quality: no matter how established he was in covering this world, he always found something new, injected a fresh perspective into the coverag…
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…otest, take our nation back!”—Trump will host his first formal rally of the 2024 presidential campaign season at the Waco Regional Airport. The location is, in theory, all about the positive Trump vibes in Texas. As his campaign staff wrote, “It is undisputed that Texas is Trump Country after electing 37 Trump Endorsed Candidates and recent polling among Texas primary voters.” Indeed, Waco boasts the largest Baptist university in the world, which…
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