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War on Christmas Affirmed by Southern Baptist Convention

By Mark Gstohl

…t the messengers voted on a resolution to boycott Disney because of its policies toward homosexuals. One resolution approved by the messengers this year that may not be so widely publicized is a resolution “On Affirming the Use of the Term ‘Christmas’ in Public Life.” The resolution denounces secularism as a “pervasive and aggressive movement” fueled by such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way and others. Thes…

A Religious History of American Neuroscience

By Leigh Eric Schmidt

[The following article was originally posted on The Immanent Frame, a project of the SSRC.] Not long ago, researchers wired up the atheist Richard Dawkins with a helmet that would create magnetic fields partially simulating the brain activity of temporal lobe epilepsy, which they linked to dramatic visionary religious experiences and to less dramatic feelings of sensed presences. It turns out, though, that hooking up a hardboiled atheist to a mac…

Aliens To Arrive in Alabama Today!

By Ben Brazil

…deration of Light,” as channeled by Australian medium Blossom Goodchild. Originally revealed on Goodchild’s blog, on August 1, 2008, the message specifies the date of their arrival as October 14, 2008, and promises a peaceful stay. It begins thusly: O LEADERS, GOVERNERS, POLITICIANS AND ALL PEOPLE OF EARTH …. We wish it to be understood that on the 14th day of your month of October in the year 2008 a craft of great size shall be visible within you…

Friending Pope Benedict on Facebook?

By Kate Childs Graham

In April 2005, just after the death of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict sent the following text message to Italian mobile phone users: “Let us go forth in the joy of the risen Lord and trusting in his permanent help.” JPII had been texting Italians with a “thought of the day” while he was still alive, so Benedict was simply carrying on this tradition. Pope Benedict has more recently used text messaging to communicate with attendees throughout thi…

A Color-Blind America? Don’t Fall For The Okey-Doke

By LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant

…ty and drugs). This was by all accounts—both classic and contemporary—a religious experience. As an ethnographer, however, I continued to ask myself “is everyone a convert?” 40 Acres and Crunk in the White House I will never, ever forget looking up at a huge screen, noticing the dramatic, drumroll sounds that preceded the announcement of breaking news, and hearing Wolf Blitzer say, “And CNN can now project that Barack Obama, 47 years old, will bec…

Battling for the Soul of the Democratic Party

By Sarah Posner

…e Democratic Party hung its godless head, beaten into submission by the religious right and a small group of Democratic activists. Democrats, the mythology went, were anti-religion or, at best, clumsy when talking to religious people. The religious right embraced that myth and sought to reinforce it, to cement its own monopoly on the newly-minted electoral prize of the “values voter.” The Democratic activists, many of whom were evangelical and res…

An Immigrant’s Tale: The Pull of the Homeland

By Shabana Mir

…at has a hold over Muslims, one prominent group among the new immigrant religious groups? Young men who have seen little other than Brooklyn and small town Illinois take long, cramped flights to dusty Lahore and crowded Cairo. Young women raised in the comfort of suburban Virginia and the freedom of college campuses take long, hot summer vacations with curious, opinionated relatives in Jeddah and Teheran. It is from first generation immigrants tha…

Religion at Decade’s End

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…ef pontificate, resulting in the equally unexpected elevation of John Paul II to the papacy, the first non-Italian pope to be so elevated since the middle of sixteenth century. John Paul II quickly established himself, again somewhat surprisingly, as a man of unusual charismatic and media talents, but also as a pope with some jarring and nearly reactionary theological attitudes. It is worth reflecting on the symbolic significance of the fact that…

‘Biblical’ Disaster in Haiti: Pat Robertson and the Curse of Unyielding Ignorance

By Matt Recla

…talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.” True story. And so, the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.” And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. Tha…

Angry Voters, Right-Wing Populism, & Racial Violence: People of Faith Can Help Break the Linkages

By Chip Berlet

…d 1990s, Ward was a community organizer for a human rights group in the Pacific Northwest. As a burly young black man with a loud voice and strange hair, Ward stood out when he addressed the predominantly white audiences of folks concerned about rising prejudice and bigotry. After April 19, 1995, people began to take Ward more seriously, as bodies were removed from the Oklahoma City Federal Building, collapsed by a truck bomb delivered by a domest…