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Billy Graham and the Gospel of American Nationalistic Christianity

…ationist, hegemonic WASP politics that son Franklin Graham and many others promote today. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Franklin Graham simply represents a more strident version of 1950s Billy Graham. It’s not surprising then, that Billy Graham will finish his race in the United States Capitol next week. House Speaker Paul Ryan has indicated that Billy Graham will lie in state in the Capitol from February 28 to March 1st. For the most…

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Top Five (Less Sensational, But More Dangerous) Things to Remember About Pat Robertson (1930-2023)

…ealed: What could top such a list? Since we’re on the subject of disasters today, we might have noted how, amid the response to Hurricane Katrina, George W. Bush’s FEMA hyped Robertson’s philanthropic arm, Operation Blessing. This organization is small and unorthodox at best, and has been accused of various irregularities. Yet early in the crisis it appeared on a FEMA list of just three places to donate, alongside the Red Cross. If we compare thes…

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Religion, Morality, and the Death of the American Soap Opera

…undermining the war morale, distracting women with addictive stories that promoted destructive values. To label something a “soap opera” today still implies that what you are describing involves immature behavior, improbable plot twists, and/or unseemly sexual liaisons. Soap opera fans themselves have consistently been characterized as immature, psychologically weak, or missing something crucial in their lives. As a result, those who watch soaps…

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On Religion, Abortion, and Politics: Dr. George Tiller’s Christian Ethics

…ization that it has been, and continues to be, primarily a political issue promoted by religious groups with a far larger agenda than simply abortion—and driven by an energy that goes far deeper into the racial history of the country than most Americans want to admit. After the Civil War in the 1860s, the white South was able to keep former black slaves from full participation in society for another 100 years. Only in the 1960s were African Americ…

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What 19th-Century Marriage Controversies Can Tell Us About The Fight Over Gay Marriage

…girl” who was deceived by a violent and unscrupulous husband, which helped promote identification with audiences. Today, however, such profiles are supplemented by actual visuals. Images of hard-working and non-threatening gay couples with their children enhance that audience identification even further. I’m interested in your observation that religion is a “malleable tool” where marriage debates are concerned. Right now the UCC church in North Ca…

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Election Day: Hope, Heartbreak, Naiveté, and Studs Terkel

…of the land, even he had to admit something in America was now different. Today, regardless of which side wins, history will be made. Forty-five years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. hoped that his “four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Isn’t that what every religion seeks—a time when the service and character of each individual is recognized…

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Religion in Tension on World AIDS Day

…ch. We are the Church.” While a single example, this statement reminds us, today, on World AIDS Day 2008, that throughout its history, AIDS/HIV has been entangled with religion—for good and ill. As we move into the second quarter-century of the pandemic, this entanglement continues. Twenty-first century religion has been shaped by and has shaped the AIDS/HIV crisis; they continue to influence one another. Today, we often hear about this entangleme…

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RD10Q: Living Without God

…t a book to be engaged with. My goal is to help people find their bearings today without religion or God. What alternate title would you give the book? Finding our Bearings without Religion. How do you feel about the cover? It exudes energy and commands attention. An earlier version, also striking, put the reader into nature. I like my publisher’s taste, which was to make the book as current as possible. Is there a book out there you wish you had…

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Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill Reintroduced in Parliament Today

…nfamous kill-the-gays bill has been reintroduced in Parliament. The bill stalled last year in the face of international pressure, including condemnation from the U.S. State Department, but its backers have never given up. The legislation and the violent anti-gay rhetoric promoted by its supporters have been part of a wave of anti-gay campaigns in Africa backed by American anti-gay evangelicals. That campaign has had deadly consequences: just over…

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The 50 Shades of Evangelicalism

…upporting Israel Is ‘God’s Foreign Policy.’” Just last month, Christianity Today featured a review of Caitlin Carenen’s The Fervent Embrace, in which Wheaton College professor Gary Burge took issue with the author’s broad categorization of evangelicalism as unilaterally Zionist, noting that “It is frustrating to see ourselves summarized through the extreme voices of Jerry Falwell or Hal Lindsey—and today, Pat Robertson and John Hagee. Evangelicals…

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