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Can Expelled Teach Us a Thing or Two?

By Arri Eisen

…ans would be attracted to, appreciate and consider careers in science (the number is decreasing annually). I bet we’d have more productive conversation among students and leaders of science and religion around the many profound issues in our nation that engage both: abortion, medical care, stem cells, homosexuality, and genomic research. The battle rhetoric would fade and, more than likely, movies like Expelled wouldn’t be made in the first place….

Swift-Boat Veterans of American Jewry Charge Anti-Semitism at Occupy Wall Street

By Jay Michaelson

…, one particular antisemitic loon who’s been showing up at protests in the New York area for years now. None of them had the ‘human mic.’ None of them were in any kind of non-leadership leadership position. Surely, anyone who knows anything about the protests – which includes ECI’s leadership – knows this to be the case. Which makes ECI’s video a cheap lie — yet another in a long litany of desperate efforts by the far right to convert the largely…

Mitt Romney’s Prosperity Gospel

By Peter Laarman

…m’s endorsement, splashed into our faces via an expensive full-page Sunday New York Times ad, that triggered my flat-out recognition: the 94-year-old daddy of all televangelists is laying his bony patriarchal hands upon a fellow preacher who shares his hawk-like profile, and that man is not Franklin Graham. Romney wants us to turn away from the false gospel of an impostor, a usurper, a false messiah, who happens to be the sitting president. Pretty…

Heterosexual Martyrs and Gay Saints: Did AIDS Coverage Clear the Way for LGBT Equality?

By Diane Winston

…aight world slowly adopted the term “gay” in the 1980s). In 1963, when the New York Times ran a front-page story on the growing presence of homosexuals in the city, the subtext was hostile, citing the “growing concern of psychiatrists, religious leaders and the police.” Soon afterward, when homosexuals organized protests against discriminatory employment practices, police entrapment, and raids on gay bars, the press paid scant attention. Even the…

Hypocritical Freakout over Shari’ah, but Not Biblical Law

By Sarah Posner

…dispute between former trustees of the Islamic Education Center of Tampa, Florida, and the mosque itself was properly referred to arbitration by an Islamic scholar. Fox News and conservative bloggers are freaking out about the long, slow, imaginary march to shari’ah law taking over the Constitution. But they’ve never objected to very similar arrangements made by Christians. First, the Florida mosque case: according to an article in the St. Peters…

Gingrich’s Faith Leaders “Not Aware” they’d been Enlisted in Campaign

By Sarah Posner

…ary and the general election.” On January 28, the campaign announced “nine new leaders for its Florida Faith Leaders Coalition.” Gingrich has been reaching out for the votes of evangelicals, with appearances at three churches over the weekend, and an election day appearance at a Baptist church in Orlando that is serving as a polling place. But three Florida pastors listed as members of the coalition tell me that they knew nothing about it, had not…

Florida Governor Signs Law Defending Educators’ Right to Witness

By Lauri Lebo

…would have a “chilling affect” on its members’ religious observances. In a news release, Liberty Counsel, Liberty University’s legal arm, said in light of the new law it will now file a motion requesting the court overturn the consent decree. Basically the law says that, unless they sign a waiver, teachers and staff can’t be legally required to stop leading school prayer and proselytizing to students. I can’t believe this won’t go unchallenged. I…

What a Turn-of-the-Century Anti-Abortion and Contraception Crusader Reveals About GOP Efforts to Ban Abortion Pills by Mail

By Steven K. Green

…items within their borders (as is already the case federally with lottery tickets). A Republican-controlled Congress could then impose a nationwide ban on the mailing of abortion pills or certain contraceptives. (Republican-controlled state legislatures have already demonstrated a willingness to enact questionable legislation for nothing more than its intimidation factor.) Which brings us back to Anthony Comstock. In 1878, the Supreme Court uphel…

Burning Down the Temple: Religion and Irony in Black Rock City

By Sarah M. Pike

…his is the land of ironic religious play. Parodies of the Catholic Church, New Age channellers, and UFO believers are all to be found on the streets of Black Rock City right alongside sincere followers of world religions and new religious movements. The “Tunnel of Questionable Enlightenment” invited passers by to enter and enjoy its lights, then emerge to share their “questionable enlightenment with the community.” Not far from the Tunnel an unrel…

Billy Graham, Most Famous Religious Figure of 20th C, Dies at 99

By Randall Balmer

…ad never graduated from college. Then, meeting Graham at the Taft Hotel in New York City, Templeton challenged his friend to attend seminary with him in order to deepen his theological understanding. Graham pondered the possibility at length, troubled by Templeton’s intimations that elements of the Christian faith were not intellectually defensible. For Graham, a turning point in his life—and in the entire revival enterprise of the twentieth centu…