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Why It’s Heresy to Read the Bible Literally: An Interview with John Shelby Spong

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…the world announces it with a star and he draws the Gentiles into the worship of this Christ child at the end of the story. This Christ, now resurrected, says that your task is to take the light of the love of God and give it to everybody in the world, even those you denigrate. This word needs to go beyond the boundaries of your religion, beyond your dietary laws and thinking all Gentiles are unclean. But when your agenda is to convert someone to…

The ‘Evolving’ Story of Teacher Who Burned Cross into Student’s Arm

By Lauri Lebo

…eligious—as if somehow their objection of a cross branded on their kid might be perceived that way. “We are religious people,” they said in a statement after they filed suit in June. “But we were offended when Mr. Freshwater burned a cross onto the arm of our child. This was done in science class in December 2007, where an electric shock machine was used to burn our child.” Dennis sighs on the phone when she thinks back on the past two years. “It’…

Can You Make a Comedy About UFO Cult Mass Suicide?

By Joseph Laycock

…selves—claiming that their consciousnesses would be transported to a spaceship, which they believe may have been hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet—the media hyped this incident as “the worst mass suicide in U.S. history” (not counting Jonestown, which occurred in Guyana). Funny stuff, right? Satire about religion is a double-edged sword. American popular culture has long been fascinated with cults. After the Heaven’s Gate suicide, Family Guy as we…

Romney Had No Clue as to Obama Ground Game

By Joanna Brooks

…s unironic characterization of Romney as a “data-driven analyst.” Unless by “data-driven analyst” he means is a guy who knows how to arrange numbers on a page to make a case just plausible enough secure buy-in from a cultivated crew of underwriters and investors who are already inclined to believe him. Which, actually, just may be what “data-driven analyst” means these days. I don’t believe that spreadsheets are a scale model of reality. I do bel…

AAA: Like a Good Neighbor

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…old a parable about a man left stranded by the side of the road. Two very pious and socially respected men passed him by without a thought, not wanting to go out of their way to help. A good Samaritan however, stopped to help the man, fixed him up, and even got him a great discount at a hotel. In our modern day parable, AAA is the gay and lesbian community’s good Samaritan, while Don Wildmon and his ilk refuse to even glance in their rear view mir…

How (and Why) A Determined Sit-In Worked

By Daniel Schultz

…s of the Alabama state patrol that can tell you that, when John Lewis sets his mind to something, he doesn’t much care what happens to him along the way. That put me in mind of this upcoming Sunday’s gospel text. Jesus has his face “set on Jerusalem,” meaning he’s going to bring his message of forgiveness, healing, and liberation right into the heart of the power structure in his nation. When he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. He tells his follow…

The Tweets of the Christ

By Nathan Schneider

…gly confines it to the trivial. Every tweet must be under 140 characters (which this paragraph has already long exceeded). Even its built-in instructions emphasize triviality—“what are you doing?” Yet, despite every indication that this is a place where unserious ephemera alone should go, people keep insisting on doing serious things there. Just this past week, in the former Soviet republic of Moldova, activists used Twitter to organize actions li…

The Fragility of Our Reality: A Conversation with the Brain Behind PBS Miniseries on Neuroscience

By Michael Schulson

…t part is the exploration, instead of the pretense to certainty. You have this philosophical commitment to possibility. But there are people trying to get specific moral messages out of neuroscience, too—specific statements about how we should live, how we should blame, and so forth. Is that going too far, or can these conclusions coexist with that openness to possibility? I actually think it’s extremely important to figure out what we can learn,…

Bishop Minerva Carcaño Has a Nearly Impossible Job

By Mary E. Hunt

…h with a child. Our job, she proclaimed, is to “do all we can to care for this child who came to us from God.” Progressive bishops in denominations that have strong conservative wings have a nearly impossible job. They contend with constant backlash as they pastor on a daily basis. That is challenging enough. But when they lead on specific issues like immigration and LGBTIQ rights, they can plan on many of their congregants opposing them. The exp…

Obama’s Pastor “Dream Team”

By Peter Laarman

…not want it known, nor would the President himself want it known. Having this relationship made public is unseemly and unworkable for both parties, but it is especially unworkable for the clergyperson who must now look upon his role as one that needs to be maintained for the sake of appearances. Unless he wishes to be a mere compliant chaplain. Kings and other potentates have made use of the services of such chaplains from time immemorial. Not su…