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New Poll Reveals Jews May Be Open to Change in Israel Policy

By Benjamin Weiner

…w more secure. And as for Iran, negotiators and hardliners are running neck-and-neck. The stakes are high. If President Obama attempts to take a harder line with Israel he risks alienating his Jewish base. At the same time, if American Jews are not willing to support the president, they risk a diminishment of their own political capital if he does it anyhow. The J Street data, if nothing else, indicates that there is at least the potential for col…

A Reforming Tradition Struggles With Change

By Brent Hege

…eft fringes of American Protestantism; it is a traditionally moderate, left-of-center body whose historic heartlands are the Mid-Atlantic and the Upper Midwest. If the this denomination is making moves toward full inclusion, other Protestant bodies can’t be far behind. Female Clergy Oblivious to Irony This is not the first time the ELCA has had these conversations. In fact, almost identical arguments were made forty years ago when the issue was th…

Bill Gates’ Comments on Covid-19 Vaccine Enflame ‘Mark of the Beast’ Worries in Some Christian Circles

By Christopher James Blythe

…t buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name… his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” (Revelation 13:16-18) In the early twentieth century, this prophecy became linked to American fears of a powerful federal government. A 1943 letter to the editor of the Pampa Daily News was representative of this growing resentment coupling conspiracy with apocalypticism: We should count it dishonorable for…

Pious White Reformers and Race, Then and Now

By Peter Laarman

…ivilizing” these people, they could not be permitted to remain living cheek-by-jowl with whites; moreover, they occupied highly desirable land north and west of the Ohio River and smack in the middle of the rich uplands of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. Benevolent whites therefore took it upon themselves to organize a number of “civilizing” projects, then pressed for voluntary migration of the natives to lands beyond the Mississippi…

RDPulpit: Israel in Gaza: Right but not Smart

By Rabbi Michael Lerner

…Palestinians? The first step is for the world to demand an immediate cease-fire. That cease-fire should be imposed by the United Nations and backed unequivocally by the United States. Its terms must include the following: A. Hamas stops all firing of missiles, bombs, or any other violent action originating from the West Bank or Gaza, and cooperates in actively jailing anyone from any faction that attempts to break this cease-fire from territory c…

Wesolowski Sexual Abuse Case a New Approach or Same Old Same Old?

By Mary E. Hunt

…han ambassadors. In any case, he was not a heavy hitter politically or theo-politically—perhaps just a good party host. I suspect he was like any number of career Vatican diplomats whose suave ways get them these cushy assignments but whose accountability to the larger church is nil. Hey, afternoons free for drinks and a little action, I bet there’s no trouble finding applicants for these jobs. Second, who pays for this kind of busy work? This nun…

Atheists Ignore Islamophobia at their Peril

By Chris Stedman

…tion of the Sikh shooting, but it did list an instance where a Florida door-to-door salesman was shot, and noted the recent mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. PZ Myers, who is among the most visible atheist bloggers in the world, did write about the shooting twice, though one of his posts simply referenced the shooting as a way to condemn America’s “gun culture,” while the other focused on Pat Robertson’s comments. (Most of the more than 35 other…

Record Numbers Voted for More Death and More Racism; Can We Really Just Come Together as a Nation?

By Peter Laarman

…rents’ arms, the ongoing police murders of Black people, the graft and self-dealing, and the never-ending cascade of lies and venom. To Black/Indigenous/People of Color the message of this election could not be more clear, regardless of whether Biden manages to squeak through and get himself sworn in. The blunt message from more than half of their white American neighbors is get out – you don’t matter – we don’t need you, and you won’t replace us….

Why the Church is Struggling to Hold Onto Millennial Catholics

By Kaya Oakes

…s empirical evidence of that)—their Catholicism may have always been a self-defined identity rather than a strident one. My So-Called Catholic Life Some Catholic millennials, however, cleave tightly to church teachings, and because many come from loosely Catholic homes, much of their faith formation takes place when they are college students. The recent Planned Parenthood sting video was put together by the anti-abortion group Live Action, which w…

Pope’s US Visit Provokes Intense Attention; New Vatican Book on Man-Woman Complementarity & New Int’l Report on Christian Role Models for LGBT Equality; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…rry The Delhi High Court heard allegations that the parents of Shivy, an 18-year-old transgender man living in the United States tricked him into visiting India on a holiday, took his passport and green card, and tried to forcibly marry him to a man. He says he fears for the safety of transgender activists who sheltered him after he ran away from his home; he said men posing as police officers showed up at the activists’ home. He has asked the Del…