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Under Water: Waiting for the Flood (of Awareness) in Louisiana

By Drew Konow

…mpet in the high school marching band, of my grandfather mixing drinks at a 1960s dinner party, of my sister’s and my first communion, and of our many relatives, long since dead, whose names I can no longer keep track of. In the dining room sits my great-grandparents’ table, having weathered countless birthday celebrations and holiday meals. And here is where my great-grandaunt’s bookshelf stands, where I store the books I can’t quite justify lett…

Not All American Muslims Feel the Dread I Do

By Huma Mohibullah

…(correctly) at the uncertainty consuming me. Similar messages poured in by phone, email and social media throughout the day. It was as if someone in my family had died and people felt compelled to offer me condolences. The reality of living in a country in which the most blatant expressions of Islamophobia and other forms of hate are normalized does worry me. Even as Trump flip-flops on his promise of a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims ente…

Madoff, Through a Glass, Darkly

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…ture of Madoff’s three-story securities complex. The two boys worked on the 19th floor; the Ponzi scheme was handled on the 17th floor. The boys claim they hardly ever set foot on the 17th floor. Others insist that building floors are very porous membranes indeed. The money, like the guilt, flows freely. The mystery deepens in the case of a man like Bernie Madoff, because he so mysteriously found a way to have it both ways. The offices on the 19th…

The Banality of Bernie

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…about it. The parallels are subtle, but intriguing. Hitler’s secretary from 1942 to 1945, Traudl Junge, claimed never to have heard her boss mention Jews or Holocaust. Not once. Squiallari, who served Madoff with personal distinction for over twenty-five years (at an eventual annual salary of $100,000), claims to have had no knowledge of what was going on two floors below her, on the storied 17th floor. Madoff’s wealthiest and mist notable victims…

Religion at Decade’s End

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…ary discussion of the resurgence of politicized neo-traditional religion is 1979, not 2001. It was in 1979 that the Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolutionary movement seized power in Iran. It was in 1979 that Jerry Falwell formed the Moral Majority in the United States and began lobbying hard, not just for a fundamentalist return to the political arena, but for the neo-conservative agenda of then–candidate Ronald Reagan. It was in 1979 that John Pau…

It’s Barack v. the Bible, Says Barton

By Paul Harvey

…fornia, and then to what came to be called the “New Christian Right” of the 1970s and 1980s. Communism disappeared from the enemies list after 1989 (except for older Christian Right stalwart David Noebel, who keeps even that faith while leading the Christian Anti-Communist Crusade even into his retirement), but Islam, an economic “New World Order,” the “gay agenda,” the always-present secular humanists and feminists, and numerous other threats aro…

Battling for the Soul of the Democratic Party

By Sarah Posner

…ca are (and, moreover, in the wake of Obama’s election, who will get their phone calls returned from the White House) certain names keep cropping up. Pastor Rick Warren, who sees no daylight between his views and James Dobson’s, but who, according to Sullivan’s book, former-DNC-chair Terry McAuliffe blasphemously didn’t know; Jim Wallis, best-selling author and activist who lambasts the religious right for its petty intolerance and the left for “n…

Pro-Choice, Progressive Jewish Groups Weigh In On Kagan

By Sarah Posner

I just got off the phone with Nancy Ratzen, president of the National Council of Jewish Women, who said the group would be issuing an endorsement of Elana Kagan later today. Ratzen, who said the NCJW has, since 2001, “engaged consistently on reviewing and taking positions and educating and mobilizing progressive Jewish community” on judicial nominations, said that the group would be working hard to see Kagan confirmed. “We think she has an except…

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

By Sunnivie Brydum

…es 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 SBC, and repeatedly declined to provide a reason for their removal. The officer allegedly told Robertson and his colleague, Tim Gold (husband of FIA co-founder Mitchell Gold), that he would cal…

Global LGBT Recap: Culture War Claims More Victims

By Peter Montgomery

…i responded defiantly: Excellent Minister: You have never called me on the phone before. And you threatened me for a letter I addressed to Pope Francis. After today’s call I warn you that Christian-phobia is a type of religious persecution contrary to the liberty enshrined in our Constitution, which I swore to defend and obey. I reject your threats, even if I am sacrificed like John the Baptist for simply because as an Ambassador [to the Vatican]…