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Judeo-Christian America: The Fall of the ‘Christian Nation’

…ion was so boisterous that efforts to put a question about religion on the United States census fell apart. In the legal and social struggles, Catholics and Jews had effectively helped create a new right in the United States: the right to religious privacy. Concluding his work, Schultz demonstrates how the tri-faith concept softened the ground for civil rights activism and how the “Judeo-Christian” notion became so powerful that even enemies of re…

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The Anti-Gay Highway

…s. Describe the reverse influence African churches are having on US church policy. Before the United Methodist Church’s [UMC] general convention, the IRD and the Confessing Movement in the UMC went to Africa for what they called training Africans about the general convention; they gave them materials about the church in America, and how bad it has become. Those materials also told them that when you come to America, you need to vote for A, B, C, a…

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‘Manufactured’ Smear Campaign Attempts to Intimidate Church ‘Fasting From Whiteness’— It Didn’t Work

…o one thing: intimidate us into changing how we practice our faith.” First United Church of Oak Park, a mostly white, suburban Chicago congregation with more than 600 members, is affiliated with two mainline protestant denominations—the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Church of Christ. The UCC has been on edge since credible threats against “liberal churches” were picked up by federal law enforcement in the run up to the anniversary of J…

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United Nations Affirms the Human Right to Blaspheme

…not just conflicts between “free speech” and faith, but clashes between competing claims of conscience. This stance is defended by the International Humanist and Ethical Union and elaborated in my forthcoming book, The Future of Blasphemy: Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights. The message of General Comment No. 34 is not only a clear condemnation of the blasphemy laws of countries such as Pakistan, which despite having ratified the ICC…

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

…the midst of one of the most significant right-wing populist rebellions in United States history. The Tea Parties and Town Hall protests along with the “9/12” rally in Washington DC last Fall were visible proof; as are the ongoing and anti-tax “Liberty” protests. In mid-January, the overwhelmingly Democratic Commonwealth of Massachusetts elected a conservative Republican, Scott Brown, to fill the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy. Brown was back…

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Republicans Claim Shari’ah Law Threatens Constitution

…at a mortal threat to the supreme law of the land, the Constitution of the United States by its own terms, and the freedoms that we hold dear that are guaranteed by it, if we accept the insinuation and ultimately the adoption of shari’ah in the United States. So this panel is, we hope, part of a debate that will become much more vigorous in this country in the days ahead. We hope that in particular the kinds of efforts to insinuate shari’ah that h…

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White Christian Complaints About Religious Persecution Are Especially Ugly on MLK Day

…s reversed, and we go back to the states and let the states make their own policy on this.” Although he doesn’t mention it explicitly, a brief review of ADF’s advocacy indicates that the organization’s definition of “winning” also includes defeating any trans-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances at the local, state, or national level. If you don’t believe me, take a look at ThinkProgress editor Zack Ford’s excellent (and terrifying) deep dive in…

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Dispatches from the Borderlands: Missing Voices

…ization of pastoral ministry. Mainline Protestant leaders, such as Arizona United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño, have weighed in forcefully in favor of a comprehensive reform; so have some Latino evangelical and Pentecostal leaders through Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and other coalitions. In an era of muscular public morality, this advocacy is not surprising. Unfortunately, Latino religious leaders lack the bully pulpit of a…

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Don’t Ignore the Role of “Christian Values” in Conservative Conspiracy

…ing bloc that believed individuals who had different Christian dogmas were united in their commonly held values against feminism, LGBTQ rights and the “moral decline” of America. This sense of a loss of American values, was linked to communist infiltration in the Church, the National Council of Churches, the government and mainstream media. The war against mainstream media was met with conservative newsletters and magazines like Human Events and A…

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The Traitor Chaplain Who Gave Government Prayer to America — A 4th of July Corrective

…terly stroke of policy, than in moving that Mr. Duché might read prayers.” Policy, not piety. For those who wish to portray the United States as a Christian nation, the story ends with Duché’s prayer and never grasps that this was a political stunt. But this is when things just start getting juicy. The British captured Philadelphia in 1777 and Duché spent one night in jail before turning coat and forsaking America. “Mr. Duché I am sorry to inform…

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