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White House Unveils Contraception Accommodation Plan [UPDATED]

By Sarah Posner

…will see this accommodation as “something they can mark off their shopping list”— referring to the USCCB’s demands from its Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty. “They will come back to the political establishment, Republican and Democrat, to begin carving out the rest of what they want,” said O’Brien. “They have now an entree into being able to demand further from the political establishment knowing that the political establishment will bend the…

Time for Mormons to Come to Terms with Church History

By Joanna Brooks

…conducted by the Open Stories Foundation, thorny historical issues top the list of reasons why Mormons leave. These issues include the disputed origins of The Pearl of Great Price, a book of Mormon scripture, the historic practice of polygamy by Joseph Smith and other early Mormon leaders, and the Church’s 130-year ban on full participation by people of African descent. Controversial issues like these are not addressed in official church materials…

Gingrich Downplays Adelson Money, Stokes Fear of “Second Holocaust” at Florida Church

By Sarah Posner

…urpose, the non-profit organization funded by Silicon Valley venture capitalists which, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, “is using sophisticated data-mining techniques to compile a database of every unregistered born-again and evangelical Christian and conservative Catholic in the country.” Although event organizers emphasized that their organizations do not endorse candidates, Staver has endorsed Gingrich, and serves on his nationa…

Silver Bells and Atheist Billboards

By Steve A. Wiggins

…f. These are the teachers of tomorrow’s clergy. A hymn at my the fundamentalist church of my childhood included the lyrics, “He [Jesus at the crucifixion] could have called 10,000 angels, instead He died alone for you and me.” He could have called 10,000 angels, but instead he called 10,000 religion scholars. (And let’s not start a Twelve Days of Christmas cascading laundry list here, or this essay will never end.) The numbers tell the story. The…

Newt Gingrich Visits the “Holy Ghost Bartender”

By Sarah Posner

…ngs that assault or undermine orthodox, biblical Christianity” to televangelist watchdog Ole Anthony of the Trinity Foundation. Anthony called the high produced by Browne’s revival “a phony euphoria,” adding, “What happens to these converted people when the crusade packs up and leaves town? They get depressed. They get confused. So all they can do is wait for the next one so they can go back and get another fix.” CRI’s Hank Hanegraff, also known a…

Why Rick Santorum Can’t Just Say: God Doesn’t Want You To Be Gay

By Jay Michaelson

…reasons that straight couples do, with pleasure being pretty far down the list—behind, say, love, companionship, taking care of one another, societal recognition, raising children, and so on. Santorum’s ignorant comment (one of many, of course) assumes, incorrectly, that homosexuality is a (changeable, optional) predilection of the gonads, rather than an orientation of the heart. Lust, not love. Likewise, Alan Chambers, President of Exodus Intern…

In 2012 Bishops Join Fight to Repackage Discrimination as ‘Religious Freedom’

By Sarah Posner

…really want is the right to use government to shove conservative/fundamentalist/ultra-orthodox social views down everyone else’s throats.” Investigations Have Begun The investigations have already started on Capitol Hill, where Republicans’ ears are cocked for controversies they can gin up to paint the Obama administration as anti-religion. In his Congressional testimony, the USCCB’s Lori laid out a list of grievances, nearly all related to repro…

Manhattan Declaration Asks: What If Jesus Had Been Aborted?

By Sarah Posner

…birth is questionable (would your parents have met?). The post goes on to list a number of world events, inventions, and creations that the writer claims never would have happened if Jesus had been aborted, including: there would have been no Cathedrals in Europe, no Sistine Chapel, and “further, no Vatican at all;” Bach and Mozart wouldn’t have been as awesome as they were; Columbus wouldn’t have discovered America; “the Constitution, the Bill o…

In Praise of Mary Magdalene

By Garret Keizer

…in the best Magdalenian style, wrote in the early 1970s: It was as a socialist, and because I was a socialist, that I fell in love with America. In saying that I am not indulging in romantic nostalgia about youthful days on the road but rather underlining a crucial political truth. If the Left wants to change this country because it hates it, then the people will never listen to the Left and the people will be right. To be a socialist—to be a Mar…

The Pope, The Chef & Krampus: Merry Yikesmas!

By Peter Manseau

…ogue of the transgressions of preschoolers. As a teacher moved through the list, the doors would bang and shake, and the two nuns charged with guarding them would pretend that they could hardly keep the doors closed, so vile were the children’s sins, so great was the wrath of Krampus. “That was much scarier than if he were there,” Benedict said, “because what you only imagine, what has not yet happened, is much more dangerous than what you can act…