Religion Dispatches
…me time off. Some interesting details, though, out of Virginia, Ohio, and Florida: Florida: 70% of white Jews, who comprised 5% of the electorate, voted for Obama. Another data point had all Jews, also 5% of the electorate, going for Obama over Romney 66-31%. 24% of the respondents were white evangelicals, and 78% of them voted for Romney. Romney is winning Catholics, 52-48%, but 62-38% among white Catholics. Ohio: In Ohio, exit pollsters did ask…
Read MoreOn April 1, Jake Rush, a conservative congressional candidate from Florida, was outed for his involvement in vampire role-playing games. The story, which was apparently spread by supporters of his opponent, incumbent Ted Yoho, accused Rush of living a “bizarre double life” and dropped plenty of choice words like “ritual,” “occult,” and “Satanic.” Unfortunately for Yoho’s supporters the appeal to moral panic may have backfired. Rush released a st…
Read More…kids are getting too many days off. More atheist billboards, this time in Florida. Denver Broncos rookie Tim Tebow has added a tonsure haircut to his mix of evangelical Christianity and football. The new do has drawn comparisons between the former Florida Gator star and Saint Francis of Assisi. Then there’s the question of why the usual scripture citation on Tebow’s eye-black didn’t make in onto the cover of the latest NCAA football video game. P…
Read More…ssrooms in 16 states this fall. New laws in Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Florida, and South Dakota encourage or require public schools to display the divisive national motto: In God We Trust. Piecemeal reporting on the laws gives the impression that state legislators around the country are spontaneously discovering the value of imposing a religious slogan on a captive audience of schoolchildren. But pious wave is no coincidence, these laws are p…
Read MoreChuck Baldwin, Florida pastor, admirer of the John Birch Society, Ron Paul devotee, lifelong member of Gun Owners of America, and 2008 Constitution Party presidential candidate, had a Black Robed Regiment long before Glenn Beck did. Baldwin’s evolution from Jerry Falwell’s ally in Florida — he served as the state chair of the Moral Majority in the 1980s — to uber-patriot penning columns like his 2004 “I Am A Conservative Christian, And The Religi…
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…ir multi-national, multi-racial and multi-ethnic character. That said, the numbers of nations and people that we mention are sourced solely on the claims of the groups themselves. We have no way to independently verify these numbers, so they should be used advisedly. Simply put, the global vision of the NAR is based on their understanding of the Great Commission text of Matthew 28:18-20, with an emphasis on “discipling nations” (28:19). Internatio…
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…oting in 2012 to the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018, to name two of the most high profile. These latest AR-15-themed antics by elected Republicans also highlight one of the few things the modern GOP stands for: performative cruelty. Anything to “trigger the libs” will do, including re-traumatizing the victims of school shootings. Remember Marjorie Taylor Greene harassing Stoneman Douglas survivor David Hogg (…
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…s. Remember, the entire burlesque is meant to camouflage their inadequacy. Florida Gov. Ron Desantis just exempted gas stoves—appliances that may actually be harmful to human health—from Florida’s six percent sales tax. Nevermind that 92% of Floridians chose electric stoves before this was made into an issue. Now, as my colleague Annika Brockschmidt discussed recently, victims of these hucksters can buy a possibly harmful appliance and then flock…
Read More…offers Christians a comic critique of atheists. But atheists in Lakeland, Florida don’t think opening City Commission meetings with prayer is a laughing matter. The Atheists of Florida has filed a suit against the city and the mayor in U.S. District Court. Meanwhile, the North Carolina House of Representatives is rethinking its own prayerful opening to sessions. If your kids don’t have a clear picture of America as a “Christian nation” you can se…
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…rom this otherwise extremely underwhelming election night for Republicans: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. And while the Democrats’ surprisingly strong performance has bought American democracy some time, it doesn’t mean that the Right’s attack on democracy is over just because Republicans have become—at least privately—increasingly disgruntled with Trump. And herein lies the danger of DeSantis becoming Trump’s successor, or even being lauded by Ne…
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