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It’s Barack v. the Bible, Says Barton

By Paul Harvey

…an President in U.S. History” found its way onto The Blaze. John Fea’s auto-da-fé came not only in the comments section, but in nasty emails, phone calls, and demands for his firing from Messiah College. As he discovered, the culture wars are real, and practiced even on those (like Fea) who largely have been critical of Obama’s actual implementation of his promises about faith-based policies. More important than these blogosphere wars, however, is…

Global LGBT Recap: Culture War Claims More Victims

By Peter Montgomery

…health At the end of last week, police arrested the vice president of anti-AIDS pro-LGBT rights group Alternatives-Cameroon after he was accused of being homosexual. The man, a doctor, was unable to work on Saturday where he was supposed to oversee health screening for men who have sex with men. He was reportedly released after a few days. The organization released a statement complaining of police harassment and lack of response to ongoing scams…

Southern Baptist Convention Kicks Out Gay Attendees, Waffles on White Supremacists

By Sunnivie Brydum

…LGBTQ equality in the pews and in our legislation.” Brandan Robertson, a 24-year-old bisexual cisgender man, and former SBC youth leader, told RD that he and a colleague had noticed a plainclothes security officer following them around the conference center for roughly 10 minutes before that officer approached them, demanded their conference name tags, and escorted them off the property. Robertson said the officer claimed to be acting on behalf of…

Does the Science Show that Spirituality Will Benefit Your Child?

By Michael Schulson

…. But for research, you need to have the term locked down. How does our day-to-day use of “spirituality” differ from the definition you use in the lab? Spirituality comes for many people within their religious tradition, and for many other people spirituality comes outside their religious tradition. There’s a very broad range of spiritual experiences. The piece that I focus on in The Spiritual Child is a direct relationship with a higher power, wh…

Pro-Choice, Progressive Jewish Groups Weigh In On Kagan

By Sarah Posner

…ment to find a justice that would protect those rights.” (Adding to the pro-choice community’s tepid reception of Kagan, Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, issued a statement this afternoon that was silent on reproductive rights but merely noted, “We are confident that Kagan will bring the dedication and commitment that have marked her career with her to the highest court in the land.”) Ratzen, who also ser…

As Long As There’s Fear, We Aren’t Ready for Atheism: A Conversation with Theologian and Ex-Priest Daniel Maguire

By Alana Massey

…leave that sort of ambiguous in the book. This species has it in it to self-destruct. It also has it in it to make a new earth, to turn things around. The dream is the only thing we have; if these dreams grip us then policies will flow from that. The other thing about the Bible is that it has great hopes. You’re a little less than the angels, then it says you are hopeless and beyond redemption. Parodox is often the mark of truth: we are a downer s…

Is Pro-Life Cause Célèbre Chen Guangcheng Actually Pro-Life?

By Lindsay Beyerstein

…hile hardliners hear “pro-life dissident.” Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a well-known anti-abortion crusader with a longstanding interest in China and this case in particular, has been in contact with Chen. Smith claims that U.S. officials refused to let him talk to the dissident while he was at the embassy. Chen made his dramatic appeal to Congress at an emergency hearing of a commission chaired by Smith. Smith has been trying to cut funding to the…

Praying To The God Of The SUV

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…miracle This idea of relying on “almighty God” to get us out of our own man-made messes has led to another curious phenomenon: praying for a holy “bail-out” plan for struggling automakers. Churches around Michigan used their Sunday services to pray for a miracle for the auto companies and the workers who rely on them. One service was complete with Hybrid S.U.V.s on display in the front of the church. Greater Grace, the largest church in Detroit, i…

Pro-Gay Marriage Mormon Keeps Faith Despite Church Pressure

By Joanna Brooks

…rriage started posting videos of Mormons sharing their thoughts on the anti-same-sex marriage campaign, Melanie felt compelled to contribute her own. During the 2000 Proposition 22 campaign in California, she had remained silent but feared that her silence signalled her consent. This time, after prayer, she felt directed to do it differently. So she sat down in a friend’s living room and held up for the camera a picture her three-year-old son had…

A Religious History of American Neuroscience

By Leigh Eric Schmidt

…ome in the SPR threw themselves behind a new contraption called the “psycho-phone” through which the inventors claimed to be hearing the voices of angels. The psychophone no doubt sounds absurd, but I can’t say that it sounds much more far-fetched than a transcranial magnetic stimulator. Both demonstrate the enduring cultural impulse toward techno-theologizing. However much neuroscientists might want to forswear an interest in the metaphysics of t…