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Is Accreditation of Religious Institutions a “Farce”?

By Eric C. Miller

…pring suit. The most recent state to deregulate such religious schools was Texas, according to the CT report, where in 2007, the state supreme court ruled that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board could not forbid the unaccredited Tyndale Theological Seminary and Bible Institute from calling itself a “seminary” or using words such as degree, bachelor, master, and doctor. Such terms belonged to the church before the government claimed them…

“I’ll Pray For You”—Powerful or Pointless?

By Christine Wicker

…s holy that it’s become a jokey put-down. An atheist friend who lives in Texas grits her teeth every time she hears someone tuck her problems away with the promise to do something she’d rather they didn’t. Turkish author Orhan Pamuk gave one of my favorite practices a killing clout when he noted how often praying for those we pity comforts us while distancing us from the need to do anything else. During my times as a newspaper reporter, I once a…

Buffalo and Uvalde Both Appear to Have Involved the AR-15, the Rifle Revered by the Christian Right

By Brad Stoddard

…, SR carried an AR-15 and a handgun into Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where he allegedly shot and killed 21 people and wounded over a dozen others. Though most firearm-related deaths in the United States involve handguns, people—nearly always men—who commit mass shootings (defined by the Congressional Research Service as involving four or more victims) increasingly prefer AR-15-style firearms, including the shooters who killed 58 peopl…

Conviction of FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs Overturned

By Joanna Brooks

…select number of FLDS members to the faith’s remote compound in Eldorado, Texas. Jeffs will stand a new trial in Utah scheduled to begin on August 23, and he faces extradition to Texas. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is also being pressured to review state rape statutes to better deal with the situation of arranged underage marriages in polygamous communities. Two days after the news broke, Anderson Cooper hosted a show on the case. What st…

We Regret to Inform You That You Do Not Mirror the Holy Family

By Patrick Hornbeck

…beyond the usual marrying age and the other an unwed pregnant virgin.) In Texas, a state law adopted just last year permits adoption and foster care agencies to turn away prospective parents for sincerely held religious reasons. The women in this case, however, are suing in federal court, since the Catholic Charities program in question is funded through an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services. The local Catholic diocese responded t…

What Makes a Human Bomb Tick?

By Gordon Haber

…y is that it is not limited to religiopolitical violence. Lankford cites a number of American suicide terrorists that exhibited “classic suicidal traits.” Like Joseph Stack, a divorced software engineer with tax problems. In 2010, Stack crashed his single-engine plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas, killing himself and an IRS manager; “There isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken [with me],” Stack wrote in the…

The Legacy of Bush, Gambler of Other People’s Fortunes, Is Still With Us

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…began. He managed to lose 20 million dollars on the surest of sure things: Texas oil. His father’s friends paid the notes when they came due. So he rolled the dice again, on a long-shot this time, and won big, unseating his well-loved opponent as governor of Texas. And thus was a gambling career born. Dostoevsky was addicted to gambling; there’s no other word for it. And he knew it. But Dostoevsky had the self-reflection, the psychological acuity,…

Israeli Right Demonizes Israeli Left, With American Money

By Diane Winston

…right-wing groups and individuals, including John Hagee, the controversial Texas minister whose endorsement of Republican presidential candidate John McCain was rejected after his anti-Catholic remarks were widely publicized.* Hagee heads Christians United for Israel and John Hagee Ministries, which donated 100,000 dollars to the group.** Also on board with Im Tirtzu is the Central Fund for Israel, a New York-based nonprofit that funds settler mil…

‘Joel’s Army’ Is Already Here: The Obscure 20th Century Religious Movement That Profoundly Influences The Right’s Cosmic Battle

By Frederick Clarkson and André Gagné

…Republican candidate for governor, and prominent apostles Chuck Pierce of Texas and Dutch Sheets of South Carolina for example, have referred to government officials as “the enemy.” By this, they mean Satan and his demonic minions. While Apostle Abby Abildness works with righteous state legislators, she worries that “the enemy of our souls is conspiring to take over Pennsylvania leadership.” We think that knowing is better than not knowing why so…

Why Immigration is Such a Key Motivator of Nationalist Aggression and Hostility

By Willie Young

…f the loss of purity and the violation of boundaries are readily apparent. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has frequently used the term “invasion” to describe the influx of immigrants, a term US courts have found to be legally false. Yet this framing underlies Texas’ claim of its own sovereignty being violated—leading, somewhat ironically, to Abbott’s decision to ignore federal authority and law. The issue of purity likewise fits with Trump’s frequent…