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Gun Ownership as Sin—A Strategic, Secular Proposal for Gun Reform

…gun controllers would surely agree that obeying or disobeying the law is a free, individual choice. To use this Arminian sense of sin in the gun control debate may come perilously close to the pro-gun argument that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” But we are heirs of the progressives as well as the 19th-century reformers. We don’t have to choose between individual responsibility and systemic reform through government action. We can co…

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

…out how people use their cellphones, they’re entering vague territory, because there’s no agreed-upon definition of “use.” I’d wager hard cash that if you asked the exact same question about churches after priming people to think of Bible apps, those opinions would be very different. “Oh, that kind of ‘use’! That’s generally okay.” From Etiquette to Ethics This brings us to our second insight, which is that it’s very hard to measure etiquette thro…

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It’s the Theology, Stupid: Why the Shocking SBC Report is Anything But Surprising

…exual abuse in SBC churches, notes that “senior SBC leaders appeared to excuse abuse and/or support accused abusers… while at the same time survivors were ignored or treated poorly.” To put it mildly, we were not surprised. Nearly four years ago to the day, an RD headline read: “SBC’s #MeToo Problem isn’t a Rotten Apple, It’s a Rotten Tree.” In addition to its handling of individual cases, the report is also highly critical of the SBC Executive Co…

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Why South Korea (and the US) Use Amusement Parks to Push Creationism

…hen Gallup first asked the question. Gallup has polled Americans to choose between these three options 11 times since 1982, and this year’s poll does not significantly diverge from the 30-year average.  Gallup also reports some unsurprising relationships between creationist views and religious affiliation, education levels, and political views. Creationism is strongly correlated with church attendance (two-thirds of weekly churchgoers subscribe to…

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Don’t Let Bigoted Campaigns Sour You to the Revolutionary Idea of Religious Freedom

…ates, let alone discuss what it means. This is all the more remarkable because religious freedom has both nothing and everything to do with faith or religion. It is the underlying right to believe as you will—or not—and to change your mind, free from the undue influence of government or powerful religious institutions. It’s a civil or constitutional right, not to be confused with religion in general, or any particular religion at all. Because all…

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LGBTQ Equality Pendulum “Abruptly” Swinging Back as Religious Exemptions Gain Victories

…orms of speech. While Miller’s attorneys based their arguments on both the Free Speech and Free Exercise clauses of the Constitution, Judge Lampe declined to comment on the latter “because the case is sufficiently resolved upon Free Speech grounds.” But his ruling made clear that Miller denied service to the lesbian couple because she “is a practicing Christian and considers herself a woman of deep faith.” Not long after Judge Lampe exempted Mille…

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New York City a Glenn Beck Radio Free Zone (for now)

…es, at least momentarily, the boroughs of New York City a Glenn Beck radio free zone.  (Word has it syndicators are looking for a new outlet.) Perhaps Beck’s self-styled turn to the prophetic last summer and fall—which included forays into the world of Black theology and the mysteries of the Bat Creek Stone, as well as his lachrymose and prayer-scented DC Rally in August —didn’t go over so well with hardboiled conservatives in the City? Beck’s tel…

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Praying To The God Of The SUV

…rity discounts the reality of free will. The hijackers on September 11 had free will: they used it to hijack planes and fly them into buildings. The people going to work had free will: some called in sick, some had tight shoes and stopped for a Band-Aid. Some got to work early or came in on a day off. If God has granted us free will, then God must stand back and let us use it. Any other action means that we are simply automatons. There would be no…

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Free Yiddish Lessons, Vacation Liberty School, and Brangelina’s Universalism: The Week in Religion, Poetically

…ula, California is facing opposition from the Baptist church next door because of “the whole issue of Islam and what it stands for.” It seems it’d be easier to build mosques if they didn’t have any connection to Islam. In New York, the Cordoba House mosque (a.k.a. the dreaded “Ground Zero Mosque”) is still embroiled in controversy. The latest blocking strategy has been to apply for landmark status for the current building on the site. Echoing the…

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Rage or Courage?: YouTube Terrorism Take Two

…tay on YouTube,” it said.  Google is, in effect, walking a precarious line between advocacy of free speech and incitement to violence. Blocking the video might encourage copycat endeavors to prohibit other material, yet most would no doubt agree that endless provocation of violence must also be avoided—or at least mitigated. All companies that allow people to post content online—Facebook and Twitter, as well as Google—have grappled with similar is…

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