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Obama’s Supposed “Religion Dilemma” and American Exceptionalism

By Sarah Posner

…pick — a Muslim, Marxist, socialist, communist, abortion-loving, homosexual-agenda-embracing fake Christian, and really have no idea what Obama’s actual religious beliefs are. The PRRI report notes (emphasis in original): There is a critical difference between Americans who say Obama’s religious beliefs are very different and those who say they are only somewhat different. Among those who say his religious beliefs are only somewhat different, a ma…

New History Finally Recognizes Afro-Creole Spiritualists

By Paul Harvey

…y and then François “Petit” Dubuclet. Petit handed the records onto his son-in-law René Grandjean, a French émigré and Spiritualist himself. Grandjean later donated the records to the special collections at the University of New Orleans. Grandjean was an amateur historian and acted akin to the Cercle Harmonique’s first archivist. He organized the séance records, made notes in them based on conversations with his father-in-law, and translated a ver…

American Jews: From Holocaust to New Age Hasidism?

By Martin Kavka

…ontemporary Jewish life. Like Fackenheim, Shaul Magid begins his new book, American Post-Judaism, on a sociological note. Given the rate of intermarriage among Jewish Americans and the ways in which American culture no longer is content with prescripted roles for varying ethnic groups, Magid infers that American Jews now live in a postethnic culture. The ways in which Jews perform their particularism vary widely. In one way or another, all Jewish…

“American Values” and “Standing With Israel”

By Sarah Posner

…rtion, were presented as pro-life, pro-traditional marriage paragons of red-blooded American love of Israel. (The Benhams became Christian right heroes after HGTV declined to move forward with their home improvement reality show following reporting of their anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-Muslim statements.) “Despite our differences about Jesus,” said David Benham, apparently referring to Christians and Jews, “we are united because we recognize…

Making Fun of Mormonism

By Max Mueller

…ormon peculiarities can and will be used to make the Mormons seem weird, un-American, and unelectable. I take this fair bit of caution to heart. Even criticizing caricatures of Mormon theology in the media reactivates these caricatures. So yes, religion does intersect with politics in this country, and we do need to find ways to talk about it. I’d like to suggest, though, that unless a set of Mormon underwear declares its candidacy for the preside…

Conservatives, Messianic Jews, and the Jews

By Sarah Posner

…sh’s appearance. But he also argued that the recent landmark Pew survey of American Jews “suggests that the real problem the American Jewish community faces is the voluntary departure of Jews from Judaism. As Jonathan Tobin recently wrote in Commentary, the key takeaway from the Pew study is the degree to which American Jews are choosing not to live as Jews. The departure of Jews from Judaism via forced conversion pales before the voluntary abando…

Dilemmas of American Empire: Can Obama Pull Off a Game-Changer in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan?

By Gary Dorrien

…-changing deal with Iran. The Iranian people are remarkably inclined to pro-Americanism. The clerics that rule Iran might be willing to seize this moment, which would enhance their stature in world politics. If Obama is the president to make it happen, he will have to stand up to a firestorm of opposition in the U.S. and probably overrule his key officials in this area, Hillary Clinton and Dennis Ross. And he will have to risk offending most of Is…

The Sacramental American Day of Thanks

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…commercialism that begins tomorrow, this holiday is precious to many US citizens precisely for it simplicity and sometimes elegance. It is a day devoted to quiet pleasure, good food, good drink, family and friends. It is decidedly uncommercial, and refreshingly low-key. As Americans gather at dinner tables across the country, those who find themselves desiring to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving at a table where not all of their family and guest…

Ross Douthat’s Rosy Old-Time Religion

By Jerome E. Copulsky

…revolution, the development of a “global perspective” which brought the non-Western religions to the attention of Americans (oddly, he does not mention the changes in American culture brought on by the immigration act of 1965), the growing wealth of Americans, and the waning of the East Coast WASP establishment. These factors, he claims, led to a weakening of Christian orthodoxy and its hold over the American spirit. The traditional churches respo…

No, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is Not Calling for Peace — In Fact, He’s Putin’s Accomplice

By Katherine Kelaidis

…oughout the Eastern Christian world. In the words of Sergei Chapnin, editor-in-chief of «The Gifts» (Дары),writing at Public Orthodoxy: Today it is abundantly clear: Patriarch Kirill is not ready to defend his flock—neither the people of Ukraine nor the people of Russia—against Putin’s aggressive regime. Human suffering is not one of his priorities. After all, next Sunday Orthodox Christians around the world will observe Forgiveness Sunday, the fi…