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Why The Book of Mormon (the Musical) is Awesomely Lame

By Jared Farmer

…xt—proof of Smith’s prophetic powers—was more important than its contents. Today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints emphasizes scripture reading more than ever; but even now, Mormonism is not primarily about the Book of Mormon. This sacred text would indeed be a strange foundation for a religion. It’s a convoluted, quasi-historical chronology of prehistoric America, a narrative summary of men with arcane names (fathers, warriors, gen…

Fight the Power: How to Read, and Re-Read, the Book of Revelation

By Wil Gafney

…il power embodied in the great beast. But other Christians have said to me today, “Well, this book is a prophesy against empire and it shouldn’t be appropriated by the powers that be.” This book is a book of rebellion. It’s a book of challenge to the people in power, and that is the way it has been understood in very powerful movements in this country. If we were going to reinterpret this text today, if Christianity is in the American sense, in th…

Statement on NAR & Christian Nationalism Answers Few Questions But Exposes Growing Rifts in the Movement

By Frederick Clarkson and André Gagné

…ttera himself has been a central figure in creating the Christian Right of today. He was one of 150 signers of the Manhattan Declaration in 2009, along with other evangelical leaders, Christian Right activists, 50 sitting prelates of the Roman Catholic Church and a few Orthodox and Mormons. This manifesto established a three-point common political agenda for the Christian Right: “Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty.” Mattera also served on the “…

When Nazi Comparisons are “Civil”

By Sarah Posner

…igins of Totalitarianism, which he called “prophetic in its application to today.” Indeed the Manhattan Declaration itself, dressed up as a celebration of “life,” hauls out the trope that abortion is like genocide or holocaust, and claims that LGBT rights infringe on (real) Christians’ religious freedom. In his video released in conjunction with the Manhattan Declaration, Colson called the Declaration “crucially important for religious liberty,” a…

Paul Ryan: I Reject Ayn Rand, She’s an Atheist!

By Sarah Posner

…theist is criticizing her for the wrong reasons.) This week, in advance of today’s Georgetown speech, Ryan received a letter from 90 professors, led by Georgetown’s Thomas Reese, S.J., telling him “your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love.” In respo…

Workers Once Forced the Social Gospel Into Churches—Can It Happen Again?

By Eric C. Miller

…ge, official church statements of support for organized labor were scarce. Today, many denominations have such statements and they could be used to hold clergy and laity alike accountable in the midst of labor disputes. Given that rates of religious affiliation vastly outstrip support for unions among Americans today, there is ample room for such accountability. One other constant bears mention here: because church life in America operates on a vo…

Reflections on an Ineffective Negro Leader

By Jonathan L. Walton

…But, again, cultural memory can be a stupefying narcotic. Forty years ago today, on April 4, 1968, America was hardly on King’s side. His poetically articulated Dream of 1963 was long forgotten. King’s call for a more just society was interpreted as the fanatical delusions of a Negro radical in the mind of the American mainstream. Let’s face reality. Martin Luther King Jr.’s reputation as an American hero was mortally wounded well before the assa…

The Evangelical Abortion Myth: An Excerpt from ‘Bad Faith’

By Randall Balmer

…he state is responsible.” A few evangelical voices, including Christianity Today, questioned the ruling, although the magazine published an editorial three years later entitled “Is Abortion a Catholic Issue?” That editorial affirmed the general principle of right to life but concluded: “There are, of course, other considerations, such as the rights of the parents and the much-debated question of when life begins.” The overwhelming response to Roe…

Sacred&Profane: ARIS Survey Gets ‘Religion’, Misses Boat

By Gary Laderman

…see how religious practices and commitments emanate from unlikely sources today: science and the pursuit of truth; music and the social ecstasy of concerts; violence and the glorification of warfare; celebrity worship and technological wonders; heroic doctors and evil villains; funereal spectacles and sexual compulsions; the Super Bowl and sacrificed soldiers; Elvis and drugs, both legal and illegal. These and other areas of fascination and fixat…

The New God-Fearers (FKA “The Nones”) and Where to Find Them

By Carlos Wilton

…aware there are two distinct constituencies within the range of his voice. Today we’d call them churchgoers and Nones. But should we? “Nones” is a slippery, amorphous term, a null set. Maybe we’d do better to dust off the old God-fearer moniker, and apply it to those who are still coloring outside the religious lines as Lydia once did. American Christianity—especially its mainline Protestant variety—has largely forgotten how to seek out and visit…