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Cloverfield: Sin & Redemption, with Monsters

By Gabriel Mckee

…film decries are redeemed by the monster’s presence—that search for a cell phone charger becomes a selfless quest to save a trapped friend, with dozens of selfless acts along the way. In the midst of judgment, we see glimpses of a New Jerusalem. But the creature is a cleansing fire without which that redemption would be impossible. Ultimately, Cloverfield is a movie about how tragedy can bring us out of ourselves and into a greater community; its…

Is It OK To Use a Cellphone in Church? Pew Surveys the New Etiquette

By Michael Schulson

…, speculating, and damn, those kids are all doing x, y, and z on their cellphones, and it’s an outrage! Pew’s study of cellphone etiquette gives us one way to begin digging into a much larger set of questions: which norms do we, and should we, place around the use of digital tools? When are these opinions just personal preferences, and when do they take on a more explicit ethical dimension? When should we enforce them? Part of the problem is that…

Mormons Prepare to March in LGBT Pride Parades Nationwide

By Joanna Brooks

…you. We are so happy you’re here.” I was overwhelmed with a feeling of welcome from that community. Organizers within the LGBT community have been very supportive of our simple message of love and not going political and not dealing with the issue of marriage equality. And a group called OutReach—an organization that serves gay teenagers in northern Utah, including gay Mormon teenagers—those teenagers offered to march as volunteers to interact wi…

The Problem with Pew’s Science & Religion Poll

By Andrew Aghapour and Michael Schulson

…ensions between dogmatists on one or both sides. Or it could refer to some combination of both. Asked whether science and religion are, “often in conflict” or, “mostly compatible,” the poll participant has to collapse any such nuances and pigeonhole their beliefs into one side of a binary. It’s important to remember that Pew is measuring quick and narrow responses, not steadfast beliefs. The takeaway of their survey should not be that 59% of Ameri…

Religious Hostility to Gay Nigerians; The Pope’s Visit To Africa; Ireland’s Religious Schools Can’t Discriminate Against Gays; Orthodox Church in Georgia Leads Anti-Gay Forces; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…belts. Gay Nigerians say since the law was passed this kind of abuse has become common, and not just by vigilantes. BRIAN IFENNA: They beat me. They would hit me with a gun on my body. One of them wanted to take a plywood to put on my ass because he said I should lie down. NICK SCHIFRIN: Brian Ifenna says police officers picked him off the street and beat him inside this police station. BRIAN IFENNA: The law has given them the right to do what the…

Conservative Rep Grills Oklahoma Personhood Sponsors

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…so-called “personhood” bill was recently passed by the House Public Health Committee. And the comments of Rep. Cox, a member of the committee and one of only two doctors in the entire legislature, display real integrity. Of course, to see why, you have to slog through the incredibly depressing details of the committee’s discussion. As the Tulsa World reports: Its House sponsor, Rep. Lisa Billy, said SB 1443 is simply a “statement of purpose” that…

Is There Hope for a Truly Progressive Evangelicalism? An Interview with Deborah Jian Lee

By Eric C. Miller

…y the majority of Christians are pro-LGBTQ. Anecdotally, since my book has come out a number of pastors and Christian leaders of major evangelical organizations have reached out to me because this movement has prompted them to become LGBTQ-affirming and they are grappling with how to live out their convictions in a community so divided on this subject. We’re on the brink of something big that could change everything. Of all the individuals conside…

How To Talk To “Nones” and Influence People: Rob Bell’s Transrational Experience

By Brook Wilensky-Lanford

…in my folding chair, that there was something that was making me feel unwelcome in my community, something that was “sending me backwards.” I had moved to North Carolina almost a year before, from New York, in order to get my PhD in religion at UNC Chapel Hill. A good Northeastern liberal, I’d read the warning articles in The New Republic before I went, and I knew the Tea Party had taken over the state, but I could not have imagined something like…

Should NASA Have Given $1.1 Million to a Theology Institute?

By Michael Schulson

…terms.” In this view, theology is a kind of pluralistic discussion that welcomes all kinds of premises and belief commitments as it tackles shared questions. It’s not just haggling over dogma, or defining the nature of God. I asked Sheehan why, if NASA wanted to address certain big questions about astrobiology and society, they should turn to theologians, instead of asking philosophers or sociologists or religious studies scholars to come up with…

Are You There God? It’s Me, Donald: A President at Prayer

By Peter Laarman

…amous Christian in the world.” He told me that last week in a great, great phone call. Oh, and Fred Douglass. I need to get his input, too. Just this morning I told them, the great African Americans who supported me completely, what an amazing job Fred is doing, being recognized more and more. They loved it. They love me. My speech was a the biggest success in the history of black people. The media lied about it, of course. They said I didn’t know…