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Why Don’t Churches Have to Disclose Lobbying Activities?

By Sarah Posner

…ble in fear at the very thought of being seen as anti-religious,” says Rob Boston of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Given the outcry about the USCCB’s role in the Stupak-Pitts amendment, though, the public might very well begin asking more questions about the special privileges granted to houses of worship. The USCCB was complaining about taxpayer dollars being used for something it finds morally objectionable. Yet taxpay…

God is a Terrifying Monster, and Other Takeaways from the Study of Vampires in Pop Culture

By Jess Peacock

…ery real part of our world. In addition, as Farah Stockman remarked in the Boston Globe a few years back: “TV and movie characters can shape how we look at real world events.” This is also true of religious studies, where fictional narratives can give us new and fresh perspectives on theology and faith. Religion is not immutable, and throughout history it has adapted to the larger culture. In some sense, I am making an argument that, in order to s…

Peter Berger, Sociology’s Defender of God (1929-2017)

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…in a global context. His Center for Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University became an important arena for scholars from different religious traditions to interact, and Berger became involved in trying to understand commonalities among the different faiths. He was also trying to understand the role of religion in an era of globalization. Berger wrote the introduction to a book co-edited with Samuel Huntington, Many Globalizations,…

Immigration Reform: A Country Divided, Or a Richer Society?

By Cecilia Menjivar

…e communities in which they settle. Huntington was concerned that as their numbers increased, Mexicans would become more committed to their own ethnic group and would have no incentive to participate fully in US society. He noted that rather than downplaying differences, these communities glorified divisions; he feared that continued Mexican immigration could divide the United States into a country of two languages and two cultures. Welcoming the…

Popesplaining: Women Remain “Strawberries” in Francis’s Book on Happiness

By Kaya Oakes

…ous institutions have their own miserable reckonings to contend with. When Boston’s Cardinal Law died this week, victims of clergy abuse expressed both relief that one of its greatest enablers was no longer a danger, and frustration that his funeral, like that of every other Cardinal, would still be held in St. Peter’s Basilica, and that during the funeral, Pope Francis would deliver a blessing. In this epoch of unhappiness, Pope Francis has deliv…

“Soul Freedom” versus “Christian Nation”: Exploring the Legacy of Roger Williams

By Becky Garrison

…like Williams, and the execution of heretics such as Mary Dyer, hanged on Boston Common in 1660. Williams and Cotton carried out a huge literary debate over these issues in a series of books related to these questions. Williams’ begins as noted above from the position that coerced faith—establishmentarian religion—privileged religious voice—is no faith; that there are no chosen nations after Israel, and that persecution of supposed heretics may b…

You Gotta Have Faith-Based Politics

By Winnifred Fallers Sullivan

…artnerships to be led by Joshua Dubois, a 26 year-old poli-sci graduate of Boston University and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School who has also served as a part-time pastor at a Pentecostal Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to the press release on the White House Web site, the new Office will have four priorities: * The Office’s top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and povert…

The Road to Decriminalization of Psychoactive Drugs Runs Through Religion

By Brad Stoddard

…s, consider that in 1978, Dr. Carl Ruck, Professor of Classical Studies at Boston University, sought to distinguish the religious from the recreational use of psychedelics. Psychedelic drugs became associated with what many perceived as the adolescent rebellion of the 1960s and early ‘70s counterculture. The federal government criminalized the use, possession, sale, and cultivation of these drugs, though many continued to use them both recreationa…

Religious Differences Are Real (and Tolerance Can Be an Empty Virtue)

By Stephen Prothero

…nything you had to leave out? I am the adviser for the Sikh Association at Boston University, so I regretted not dedicating a chapter to Sikhism. I regretted it even more after I heard that the Republican gubernatorial hopeful Nikki Haley (who was raised a Sikh) was denounced recently as a “raghead.” There are likely 25 million or so Sikhs in the world, and from the start they have been engaged in a fascinating conversation with both Hinduism and…

God Needs No Passport

By Peggy Levitt

…rs, I wrote about the cross-border ties connecting Dominicans who moved to Boston and their friends and relatives who stayed home. When I finished that project, I realized that religion played a central role in making transnational lives possible, and that the religious landscape changed dramatically in the process. This was something that migration scholarship had not really explored. What’s the most important take-home message for readers? God N…