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United Methodist Church Votes Against Israel Divestment

By Shalom Goldman

…to the future of the church. This year the conference is meeting in Tampa, Florida—and some hot-button issues are on the agenda—among them the call for the church to divest from firms doing business in Israel. On Tuesday the conference voted against a motion that the church divest from three international firms that have business interests related to Israel’s military rule in the Palestinian territories: Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlet…

‘Anti-Romeo’ Vigilante Squads Target Men Suspected Of Being Gay; More in the Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…he Washington Post reports. “Because, you know, it’s been banned.” Finland: 800+ same-sex couples married in first month; Lutheran priests barred from officiating More than 800 same-sex couples were married in March after marriage equality went into effect on the first of the month; 770 had already been in civil partnerships. The Lutheran Evangelical Church has decreed that priests are not permitted to marry same-sex couples and some bishops warne…

The Sacred and the Dead: Three Ways to American Beauty

By Aaron K. Kerr

…a dollar boys, lay it on the line Hand me my old guitar, pass the whiskey round Won’t you tell everybody you meet That the Candyman’s in town” This is the grateful seduction, sometimes for good, many times for ill, but real any way you slice it. Two more times for the Dead to, in the words of bassist Phil Lesh, “suck the last dance right out of you…” How much are those tickets to the very last gigs at Soldier Field this weekend going for? For rea…

How Much Did Jesus Care About Sex?

By Peter Laarman

…cost of true discipleship. The price it was called upon to pay was all too cheap…We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale; we baptized, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation unasked and without condition…Was there ever a more terrible and disastrous instance of Christianizing the world than this? It’s regrettable, I think, that “cheap grace” has turned into a kind of meme that Rod Dreher can toss into his debate with Andrew Sullivan without…

Wal-Mart Faces a New Round of Historic Strikes… But Why Now?

By Sarah Jaffe

…tries in Washington DC, who are already engaged with community organizing around economic justice issues. Jones’ community, which has the second-highest unemployment rate in the DC area, has been fighting a Wal-Mart in their neighborhood, pushing for a community benefit agreement with the retailer that would guarantee jobs for local residents who desperately need them. As a faith leader in an African-American congregation with a social gospel hist…

Hipsters vs. Hasids, Round: Yawn

By Evan Derkacz

“Excuse me sir, are you Jewish?” For years, even the most vaguely semitic-looking man walking the streets of hipster (North) Williamsburg couldn’t avoid the question from one of the young Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men posted at the streetcorners. I have curly hair. I got it often. Now the Chabad have turned it up a notch with “Unite the Beards,” a slick and schlocky video campaign designed to show hipsters that hey, we all have beards… so maybe we’r…

Are Religious People More Generous? (Round LXXVII)

By Evan Derkacz

An emailed press release on the American Bible Society’s 4th annual “State of the Bible” survey arrives with the subtle subject line: “Bible Engaged More Generous.” Exhibit A is a chart showing that, indeed, the “Bible Engaged” appear to give a far larger amount of money to nonprofits than do “Bible Skeptics,” with averages of $3,259 and $584 respectively. In an effort to further emphasize the generosity of the Most Biblical among us, it also not…

Liberty University’s #NeverTrump Petition Is No Shot Heard ‘Round the World

By Anita Little

…ls out from the group, the defection looks lackluster. Soon-to-be released numbers sent to RD from the Public Religion Research Institute show that young evangelicals actually support Trump more than evangelicals over 50 do. Furthermore, if evangelical stronghold Liberty University is any indication, Trump can count on college-educated young evangelicals on November 8th as well. Since president of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell, Jr., endorsed h…

In Latest Round of LGBTQ Discrimination Cases Before SCOTUS, Religion Is ‘The Elephant in the Room’

By Patrick Hornbeck

…ed, applies here. These exchanges are neither surprising nor particularly groundbreaking. As Justice Breyer rightly observed, religion was lurking just under the surface of Tuesday’s arguments. Many disputes in recent years have involved claims that employers who hold certain religious beliefs deserve exemptions from generally applicable laws, including nondiscrimination laws designed to protect LGBTQ people. The Court’s 2018 Masterpiece Cakeshop…

Beyond Alarmism and Denial in the Dominionism Debate

By Anthea Butler

…as a Master’s student at Fuller working the switchboard part-time, and the number one phone call that came through went something like this: “Can you connect me to C. Peter Wagner’s Church Growth Institute? I’d like to buy some materials.” No one was happier than I was when he retired from Fuller and moved to Colorado Springs! I felt like I worked at a catalog call-in center. Seriously. I would never have expected to be talking about Wagner in con…