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Seeing What They Wanna See: Religion Surveys Reflect Surveyors

By Nathan Schneider

…“nones”—the unaligned, agnostics, and atheists—are at 15%, up from 8.2% in 1990 and 14.1% in 2001. Nothing like the previous decade’s change, but not too slouchy. The lion’s share of the headlines declared that religion is losing its grip on Americans. Some mourned, some celebrated, and many were surprised. Wasn’t this, after all, the decade of the values-voter and a new Great Awakening? Perhaps it no coincidence that the pair who produced this s…

Obama’s Pastor “Dream Team”

By Peter Laarman

…and tempers taking turns providing spiritual support, and mainly over the phone. Because Goodstein’s piece was essentially unsourced, some caution is in order as to even believing that Obama accepts rotating support and counsel from Jim Wallis, Joel Hunter, Otis Moss Jr., Kirbyjon Caldwell, and T.D. Jakes. This crew struck me as a little too Dream Teamy in respect to the political and cultural stances and demographic constituencies of the disting…

Bishop Minerva Carcaño Has a Nearly Impossible Job

By Mary E. Hunt

…of Southern Methodist University. She was ordained as a Methodist Elder in 1979 and served as pastor of various churches. In 1986, the Rev. Carcaño was the first Hispanic woman named a District Superintendent in the Methodist Church. She served in West Texas, New Mexico, and Portland, Oregon, where her ministry always focused on the marginalized. In 1992, she organized the Southern Albuquerque Cooperative Ministry, an ecumenical venture wit…

“We Blew it” on Climate Change, But May Survive Anyway: An RD Discussion with the First Transhumanist Candidate

By Andrew Aghapour

…n’t. I’ll check it out. It argues that, given the fact that the universe is 14 billion years old, and that there are 2 billion habitable planets, it would be incredibly amazing if we were the only advanced life form. In fact, it’s totally impossible from a statistical point of view that we would be the only ones. There are probably thousands and thousands of other life forms far more advanced than us in the universe just given the sheer numbers. G…

War on Christmas Affirmed by Southern Baptist Convention

By Mark Gstohl

…elf for the backlash created by offensive resolutions. I’ve done this since 1997 when I was awakened by a phone call from a Lutheran friend that began, “What’s with you Southern Baptists and Mickey Mouse?” I was unaware that 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…

Evangelicalism “Wasn’t Created for Someone Like Me”: Following a Queer Evangelical of Color in the Age of Trump

By Deborah Jian Lee

…n edited and condensed version of our conversations, which took place over phone and email. FEBRUARY 2017 Since the election, how has your relationship with white evangelicalism shifted? Sundays are hard. The last few months, as the temperature has turned up, I just get angry when sermons don’t address the injustice and violence in our country. I do not want to leave the first church that ever felt like a home to me. I’ve spent my entire Christian…

Emanuel’s Pulse: A Plea for Black Church–LGBTIQ Solidarity

By J. Kameron Carter

Early Sunday morning I woke up, my phone abuzz with news. Reading about the shooting in Orlando, worry and fright overcame me. Still in a semi-wake, semi-sleep, semi-dream state, I thought it was Charleston all over again. Emanuel AME redux. My partner saw my face and asked what had happened. We turned on the television to learn that a man named Omar Mateen had entered a popular gay nightclub on its “Latin Night.” Using an AR-15 assault rifle and…

Republicans in Favor of Reproductive Rights

By Katie Toth

…lt that the woman, her family, and her doctor should make the call. Another 10 percent said they believed the same thing, but “not strongly.” Only three percent of Republicans strongly felt that government should be able to make the decision about abortion. For Republicans for Choice chair Ann Stone, the poll teaches two lessons. Firstly, she wants to see Republican policies reflect the views of the party’s constituents. Secondly, Stone says, labe…

The ‘Evolving’ Story of Teacher Who Burned Cross into Student’s Arm

By Lauri Lebo

…Freshwater had been teaching students that evolution is a lie for at least 11 years. The report said that Freshwater had witnessed to students, at one point telling them that there couldn’t possibly be a genetic link to homosexuality because the Bible says it is a sin. The report also said that he handed out Bibles to members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and led them in prayers during school hours. It also said Freshwater had misused t…

Why It’s Heresy to Read the Bible Literally: An Interview with John Shelby Spong

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ability to tell stories. He doesn’t have to explain that. Then, by the year 150 or thereabouts, there were so few Jews left in the Christian church that Marcion wanted to remove any semblance of Judaism from the Christian scripture. The church officially resisted that, but unofficially they became quite anti-Semitic. What happens then, you have an audience of only Gentiles reading these Jewish stories and because they don’t understand the storytel…