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Note to GOP Voters: “Political Freedom” Comes With Social Responsibility

By Marcia Pally

…really small.” Paul lambasted even Marco Rubio’s support for the child tax credit on the grounds that it’s “liberal spending.” Oddly enough, however, for the party of conservative values, a prime principle of conservatism has slipped from view. The idea that government should govern lightly—the idea of political freedom itself–rests on the notion that people have the values and ethics to govern themselves. That is, to advance not only their own in…

Party of Religious Liberty Botches Debate on Religion and the Constitution

By Sarah Posner

…where he doesn’t call radical Islamic terrorism by its name.” To his small credit, Cruz did say, “It’s not a war on a faith; it’s a war on a political and theocratic ideology that seeks to murder us.” But he never addressed the constitutional rights of Muslims living in the United States. Ben Carson was more blunt. “I don’t care whether it’s a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn’t matter. If there are a lot of people gett…

What Did the Puritans Have Against Christmas?

By Bruce David Forbes

…il the mid-1800s, but it was not because of any campaign by churches. Most credit for the return and advance of Christmas goes to major cultural influences like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and the morphing of St. Nicholas into Santa Claus. Dickens’ famous story did not reflect the Christmas of his time but instead was an attempt to resurrect and reinvent Christmas, and it was incredibly successful. A Christmas Carol contains very little dir…

Wrestling and Religion: We Know It’s Fake and We Don’t Care

By Jess Peacock

…view of prayer breeds some seriously twisted theology, one that gives God credit for the rain, but no blame for the drought. Meaning, if our fictional sick child happens to be cured, then praise be to God. If not, well, the church just needs to be sure to pray more. In the 1993 film Shadowlands, C.S. Lewis, played by Anthony Hopkins, is being comforted by his friend Harry after his wife, Joy, has died from cancer. Harry says, “I know how hard you…

Gay, Black, and Muslim: “Naz & Maalik” Challenges Easy Assumptions About Progress

By Zannah Kimbrel

…dentities, and ignore the massive amount of discrimination that they face from outside of their community. As Naz notes, change is not the same thing as progress. Naz: “You think the world’s getting better?” Maalik: “Yeah.” Naz: “Mmm. I don’t think so. Change gets too much credit. They confuse it with progress. They don’t even realize the truth” Lesbians and gays in the US have made great strides toward equality, but that does not mean that progre…

Aliens, Nanobots, & Microbes: The Science of Secular Apocalypse

By Michael Schulson

…a lot of time wondering whether Torres was prescient or nuts. Much to his credit,Torres is happy to discuss both possibilities. I met him at a coffeeshop near his home in Carrboro, N.C. where we spoke about ISIS, technophobia, and why he doesn’t plan to have kids. This interview has been edited for length and clarity So. You’re scaring me. Is this fear healthy? I think there’s a lot of fear mongering about various scenarios that are improbable, o…

The World’s Most Influential Yoga Teacher is a Homophobic Right-Wing Activist

By Andrea Jain and Michael Schulson

…egan selling other goods. Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna in a Patanjali ad (credit: Yog Amrit) It’s difficult to confirm this story (and after an initial reply from a spokesperson, Patanjali Ayurved did not respond to multiple interview requests), but the results are apparent all over India. According to a 2015 report from an equity research firm, the company has 200,000 outlets, most of them small, unofficial vendors selling everything from spices…

Religious Resistance to Bolivian Gender Law; US Religious Right Celebrates Court OK For Romanian Marriage Initiative; Will LGBTs Be Banned from Indonesian TV?; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…f in the case, which cited, among other things, the infamous and widely discredited Mark Regnerus study. The group’s press release says its chief litigation counsel, Horatio “Harry” Mihet, was born in Romania. Mihet put this victory in the context of the global religious right’s ongoing rhetorical war against Western Europe, saying, “The CCR has recognized the sovereignty of the Romanian people to define marriage for themselves, as well as the sup…

Five Signs Atwood’s “Handmaid’s Tale” Dystopia May Be Nigh

By Patricia Miller

…sion that, according to the Washington Post, would make the refundable tax credits currently available to some ObamaCare enrollees nonrefundable “in a nod to antiabortion activists who want to stop women from paying for abortions with tax-credit dollars.” In echoes of the move in Gilead to take women’s control of money away from them, this is an effort to stop women from using their own money—which is what tax refunds are—to pay for abortions. Sta…

Did Pence Decline to Wear a Mask Because He’s a ‘Muscular Christian’?

By John Stoehr

…ks. I mean, these are interesting theories. But I think they give too much credit to the vice president and white evangelical Christian leaders unwavering in support of a lying, thieving, philandering sadist who also happens to be the president. More importantly, they implicitly accept the legitimacy of American evangelism’s definition of manhood. If Pence were really a manly Christian unafraid of catching the coronavirus among people who were rec…