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It’s Not About Cake: Anti-Gay Vendors Want a Constitutional Right to Discriminate

By Sunnivie Brydum

…claim of artistry end?” Melling asked, noting that in addition to wedding service-providers like bakeries and florists, dress-shops, hair salons, and “any number” of other businesses could claim that their services are in fact a form of constitutionally protected artistic practice. “The claim at issue here sounds as if the business can put up a sign in its window that says, ‘We sell cakes for heterosexuals only,’” Melling explained, taking ADF’s…

“Under God…It’s a Great Thing”: Trump Delivers for His Christian Base

By Diane Winston

…game. At an event where past presidents offered anodyne remarks about God, service, patience and humility, the new headman swore, threatened, boasted and raged. Abraham Vereide is having the last laugh. Vereide, a Methodist minister, began prayer breakfasts for the rich and powerful in 1930s Seattle. After years of serving the poor, Vereide decided that social change would more likely come from influencing politicians and businessmen. Vereide was…

The “Spaghetti Dinner” Clause That Launched The Latest Religious Freedom Suit

By Sunnivie Brydum

…tities, to change existing policies around gender identity. During worship services and all other explicitly religious events (which, yes, would include a spaghetti dinner worship service), the churches that filed suit (and any other house of worship in the state) is free to discriminate against trans people, or gay, lesbian, and bisexual citizens. Any pastor who so wishes will continue to be able to preach the misguided transphobia that ADF champ…

Nuns on the Bus: 2700 Miles, Nine States, and a Rock Star DC Welcome

By Mary E. Hunt

…leaders in prayer and speeches. Sister Simone Campbell, a Sister of Social Service and the Executive Director of NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby the sponsoring organization, appeared flabbergasted and delighted by the hundreds who turned out in the midst of the DC region’s massive power outage to welcome them home. Prophets in their own land—in this case, lobbyists among lobbyists—usually get a mixed reception at best. Fourth of…

Bush’s Favorite Catholic Departs The Scene

By Peter Laarman

…r, admired theologian, and accomplished author who devoted his life to the service of the Almighty and the betterment of our world,” gushed the 43rd president in a statement. “He was also a dear friend, and I have treasured his wise counsel and guidance.” I guess that is what you get when you wear a collar and pat the president on the head for standing firm against the baby killers. The through-line in most of the hagiographic remembrances goes li…

Knighting Viktor Orbán for ‘Defending Christianity,’ Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Demonstrates That ‘Culture War’ is the Only Theology That Matters to the Global Right

By Katherine Kelaidis

…re the threat. This was most clear in his homily following Sunday’s prayer service, in which he said: “…we do not impose our way of life on anyone, but we also do not want anyone, from any part of the world, to come and impose their values, their view of the world, or their way of life on us. Brothers and sisters, I repeat: we will not [accept this]. Since we do not impose our way of life on anyone, we will not allow anyone to impose on us, his ru…

Illinois Bishop Greets Marriage Equality with Exorcism

By Peter Montgomery

…f God and sift them like wheat,” he continued. In an unusual use of public services, the exorcism included two armed Springfield police officers stationed inside the church vestibule where parishioners entered from the street. At one point during the service, one of the officers strode to the front of the church, though his purpose was unclear. There were no disruptions during the hourlong event. “Be gone Satan, father of lies, enemy of human salv…

Navy Yard Shooting: Why It’s Not a Religion Story

By Michael Jerryson

…2011 that there were wide-sweeping cuts across the nation to mental health services. Just recently, the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) announced that New York governor Andrew Cuomo planned to close psychiatric services, including the planned 2017 closure of the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center in New Hampton. We should indeed be obsessed with ending gun violence; we should also be deeply concerned about how we as a society take c…

About That “Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage”

By Sarah Posner

…he signers claim is “God’s law.” At the heart of the pledge is not a plea for justice, but a plea for a legal system that yields to their religious views. A plea, in other words, to subvert the Constitution in the service of subverting the Constitution; to undermine the Establishment Clause in the service of depriving certain citizens, deemed sinful by a particular religious view, of equal protection of the law….

First Congregational UCC, Ripon Wisconsin

Cheese State Reality Check: On The Wisconsin Idea and the Social Gospel

By Daniel Schultz

…y premised on the Social Gospel understanding of the good news as concrete service to society. Alas, the moment did not last. Things fell apart during World War I and just before. LaFollette split the Republican party in 1912, leading to Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party, then opposed American entry into the war, causing his own movement to fall into mutual recrimination. Nevertheless, Raushenbush thinks there’s something to be said for the Wisco…