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PCUSA’s Nod to “Traditional” Marriage Understandable, but Not Accurate

By William E. Smith

…ld be far more precise to characterize the historical “tradition” of Christian marriage as one of development and change. Many of these developments, furthermore, continue to shape a number of the assumptions American Christians have about the nature of marriage. Consider the following examples of historical changes in Christian marriage and whether we can honestly still call today’s version “traditional.” 1) Were individuals always required to be…

A Peek Inside the ‘Onion’ of Scientology

By Kristin Rawls

…e comparable to US evangelical leaders who have tremendous influence on social policy alliances with the political elite. You note that Hubbard loved to surround himself with beautiful young girls and women and say that Miscavige has continued the practice. Could you say more about the degree of sexism in Scientology? There’s not so much sexism. Hubbard liked to surround himself with pretty teenage girls. But by every account that I have heard,…

Evangelical Pastor Argues for Full LGBT Inclusion: “I Think It’s Inevitable”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…r church, but gay and lesbian people are used to that. But the gay and lesbian people who come are the most amazing people. The amount of love they have for Jesus to go through that process of reconciling their spirituality and sexuality is incredible. As a pastor, you’re not used to that. The straight people who come believe the church has won the sweepstakes when they join because they can go down to any other church, so they’re looking for a ch…

Naked Jihad

By Kate Blanchard

…minism is as diverse as the women (and men) who participate in it. If Tunisians and Ukrainians want to get naked in order to make a statement, more power to them. And if Pakistani or Parisian women want to tell these women off, so be it. Each of them will reap consequences, both predictable and unpredictable. None of us can control the effect our words, actions, and images have on other people, so we do the only thing we can do: we gather in commu…

How Fitbit Helps a Conservative Evangelical College Monitor Students’ Bodies For Christ

By Jonathan Root

…t the “Aerobics Center,” students filled out a computer card with their ID number, activity number, and the time, intensity, and distance of their workout. The data derived from the cards helped to determine grades. One student who had been forced to enroll in the Pounds Off Program said, “I’m really sad for the school. It has so much potential, so many positive things about it, but you can’t treat people this way… They treat you like you’re not c…

Demonized and Demonizing No More.

By Joanna Brooks

…look like. Or neighborliness. Yes. Neighborliness and hospitality are crucial components or concepts in Judeo-Christian religiosity, but they’re also humanist moral concepts. What is shifting that may be allowing a new, less defensive presentation of atheism to emerge? The atheist community still exists on the margins even in conversations about faith and values. The spaces where we are not either demonized or rendered invisible are very liminal….

The Internet Is Not Killing Religion, Religion is Killing Religion

By Elizabeth Drescher

…signs of declining rather than rising. Colonialism, against its own Christianizing designs was, it seems, killing religion. It didn’t get much better well after the Revolution, either, as the United States grew in population, global prestige, and wealth. Writing in 1910 about The Spiritual Unrest that characterized the country, muckraking journalist Ray Stannard Baker lamented: Not only have the working classes become alienated from the churches,…

Was Ghana Anti-Gay Scare Just Politics?

By Warren Throckmorton

…r past estimates. Within days, religious groups united to call on the Ghanaian government for action against sexual minorities. Both Christian and Muslim coalitions have declared that they will not support a politician who favors relaxing the laws covering homosexuality. Then, on July 20, Ghana’s Minister for the Western Region publicly questioned the existence of 8,000 sexual minorities but called for arrests if they are discovered. Minister Paul…

6 Overlooked Takeaways From a Reviewer of Controversial Texas Textbooks

By David R. Brockman

…ian Right bloc on the SBOE claimed to have uncovered “pro-Islam anti-Christian bias” in Texas textbooks. Though skeptical of those claims, I nevertheless was on the lookout in my own review process for signs of bias for or against any religious tradition. I found no traces of a “pro-Islam anti-Christian bias” in the textbooks I reviewed, but I did find the opposite: many presented Christianity more favorably, and Islam more unfavorably, than is hi…

Feeding on the Faithful: How Supernatural Thinking Empowered the Third Reich

By Eric Kurlander

…like Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, or Indiana Jones, who battled Nazis. As a historian of the Third Reich, it’s hardly surprising that I became curious about the reality behind this popular image of occult-obsessed, Grail-chasing Nazis. When I finished my last book (Living With Hitler: Liberal Democrats in the Third Reich), the supernatural history of Nazism seemed like a logical next project. The inspiration for Hitler’s Monsters was, li…