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The Theological Hijacking of Religious “Freedom”

By Timothy K. Snyder

…law is being used to legislate a vision of freedom that defines religious freedom as “freedom from.” Unlike the early American Baptists, who faced serious persecution, these advocates seek to use the law to protect their vision of worship in the workplace as a purity ritual. It is a vision of religious expression free from interference in the form of difference, free from the conflicting demands of our common lives, and free from any obligation t…

‘Restart the Economy’ is a Prayer to a Conservative God Who Demands Human Sacrifice

By Stephen Young

…s fill of human flesh. If the blood of human sacrifice was the seed of the free market, its god remains hungry as ever today. As historians such as Kim Phillips-Fein, Kevin Kruse, and Lawrence Glickman have shown, wealthy followers of this god have been successfully proclaiming their gospel as the exclusive path to freedom for generations. Their message now seems obvious and their god feels like the only option. These disciples are sick of losing…

Challenge to ‘un-Africanness’ of homosexuality; LGBT Catholics in Africa face church cooperation with persecution; lesbian cartoon project debuts in bangladesh under shadow of violence; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ing Dhee, we want to shape perception of LGBT people, because we should be free to choose whom to love,” Mehnaz Khan, one of the four content developers of Project Dhee, told the AFP news agency. The project was launched on Sept. 05 at Dhaka’s British Council, under tight security to avoid any protestors. “We don’t want to be stuck inside boxes anymore. We want our mind to be free,” Bangladeshi social activist Khushi Kabir told Dhaka Tribune. The…

In Russia It Is Now a Crime to Insult Someone’s Religious Feelings

By Chrissy Stroop

…sonally, I appreciate and enjoy the radically liberal American approach to free speech, including the right to blaspheme—which is of course not to say that to do so is always wise or tasteful. But, as retired history professor Anthony Edmonds of Ball State University used to quip in the classroom, a historian’s favorite hand is “the other hand.” For better or for worse, I am professionally trained as a historian. Thus, despite my respect for Ameri…

How America’s Charismatic Christianity Helped Fuel the Fantasyland Presidency of Donald Trump

By Eric C. Miller

…, but there was certainly a great amount of freedom—and not just religious freedom. There was freedom to sell anything you want, to buy anything you want, to be anything you want, to believe anything you want, and to create any kind of religion you want. You may be persecuted for that, as the Mormons were, but if you’re willing to take on that risk, go nuts! So, yes—because we could, we did. That’s part of it. But I’m skeptical that this fully exp…

Bachmann Weaves Own Salvation Story into Christian Nation Mythology

By Sarah Posner

…settling,” by knowing Jesus Christ “in his fullness” can someone be truly free, free in the way that Jesus intended when he “set captives free” by the founding of the country. It’s all wrong, of course, historically, constitutionally. But Bachmann found the precise sweet spot where testimony and Christian American exceptionalism mythology intersect. Bachmann took her speech even further, invoking the biblical story of Joshua and Caleb, who led a…

Ebola and Us: The American Roots of Liberia’s Trauma

By Peter Laarman

…onization Society’s official name was “The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color in America.” In the end the people who were transported to Liberia were English-speaking Protestant Christians who promptly recreated a Little America on Africa’s Atlantic coast. The “Americo-Liberians,” as they were called, formed their very own domination society, made in the image of a stratified United States. Although they never numbered more than…

Grassley Staff Memo on Televangelists Makes Clear Religious Right Opposition to Government Oversight

By Sarah Posner

…t of the religious right which deems it an unconstitutional restriction on free speech and religious freedom. The rule, it’s true, is rarely enforced by the IRS, as the memo notes. But if it’s repealed, and churches are free from the possibility of an IRS investigation for endorsing candidates, churches would become even more politicized, and free to use their tax-exempt status to do so. UPDATE: Michael Batts, who has been appointed to lead the EC…

Porn, Abuse, or Just Plain Incompatibility… Is Divorce Ever a Sin?

By Daniel Schultz

…partner on the basis of their own entirely self-selected reasons. They are free to conduct themselves in marriage precisely as they choose to do. They are free to initiate divorce if and when they choose and for whatever reason might seem compelling to them. In other words, a spouse has become a consumer product, to be bought, abandoned, or traded in for a new model at the will of the customer. I dunno. Like Gushee, I’ve married dozens of couples….

Why Hobby Lobby is a Pandora’s Box: Ginsburg v. Alito

By Julie Ingersoll

…why. This was not a First Amendment case. It was filed under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Understanding this will require a little legal history but I promise to keep it brief. Prior to 1990 The Court ruled on First Amendment Free Exercise claims with a test known as the Sherbert Test. Constitutional rights are not absolute (think laws against human sacrifice). Essentially an infringement on Free Exercise was permitted if: 1) ther…