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SCOTUS Tackles Government Prayer in Greece v. Galloway

By Becky Garrison

…dorsement” of Christianity. Following this ruling, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a leading religious right legal organization, appealed to SCOTUS arguing that pastors should have the freedom to offer prayers in accordance with their religious tradition when speaking on behalf of the government. Upon initial glance, it seems like a clear violation of church-state separation, but there is a wrinkle. Thirty years earlier, in Marsh v. Chamber…

Church-State Separation Activists Urge Questioning of Kagan

By Sarah Posner

…was, according to her own description, the “biggest fan” of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, under which, if it had passed, “applicants for employment or housing may have had no legal protection from being forced to answer religiously motivated questions concerning their marital status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or whether they are pregnant or HIV-positive,” according to the SCA. Americans United notes that Kagan urged then-Vic…

Sheldon Adelson’s Long Game

By Sarah Posner

…ted yesterday, Adelson’s “right-hand man is to assume a key position at Taglit-Birthright, in a move that could signal the conservative billionaire’s desire to wield more influence on policy-making at the organization, which brings tens of thousand of young Jewish adults to Israel on free 10-day trips each year.” His goals are probably more than religious and cultural, of course, as he likely views Birthright kids as future Republican voters, or a…

As UN Considers Status of Women, It’s Time for the Vatican to Take Its Rightful Place

By Mary E. Hunt

…d of clerical hegemony. What do these changes mean for the Holy See at the United Nations, particularly at the CSW? Voluntary withdrawal from discussions at meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women is a good place to start. It is hard to name a state or a religious group that has done more than the Holy See to thwart the spirit and the letter of CSW which affirms that the “full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of a…

What a Forgotten 19th Century Suffragist Can Teach Us About Women’s Rights vs. The Religious Right

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…ity among the sexes and religions. Suffrage was part of the broader set of freedoms that Gage sought, but freedom goes well beyond that. What Gage saw was that you can’t just “get out the vote.” You have to change the mythologies. New stories need to be told, even if they are the old stories that have been forgotten. [Research for this essay is greatly indebted to the ongoing work of Sally Roesch Wagner, and the Matilda Joslyn Gage Home in Fayet…

What a Spooky Summer Trend Says About Enchantment in the Late Modern U.S.

By Daniel Wise

…sychics, alien visitors, and creatures like Bigfoot, is on the rise in the United States. Furthermore, a group that is growing in the United States is those who claim to be “spiritual, but not religious.” Many people claim no religious affiliation, yet still believe in God and participate in religious activities such as prayer. It’s common for those who claim no religion to hold New Age beliefs, such as reincarnation and astrology. One of the thin…

U.S. Envoy Minimizes Mounting Evidence of Mass Graves in Sudan

By Frederick Clarkson

…ly reported atrocities, adding: In late June, a contractor working for the United Nations witnessed Sudanese Army soldiers filling a grave with bodies and covering it with a bulldozer. The Sudanese Army, paramilitary forces and government security forces have also attacked the United Nations force itself, the report said, including the summary execution of a Sudanese staff member. The report, which was requested by the Security Council, recommends…

How Thanksgiving Became All Dinner, No Worship

By Bruce David Forbes

…) of Godey’s Ladies Book, the most widely read magazine of its time in the United States. Described by one modern commentator as a combination of Oprah and Martha Stewart, Hale wrote annual editorials campaigning for a national Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November. She also filled her magazine with heartwarming stories of Thanksgiving homecomings and dinners, and she wrote personal letters to five United States presidents and every si…

Is “Weak Leadership” to Blame for Catholic Trump Support?

By Patricia Miller

…tical home that tracks with the teaching of the church: Simply put, in the United States there is no “Catholic party” that could faithfully reflect the Church’s positions on the wide array of policy issues related to the Church’s teachings. We can imagine a party that opposes abortion and euthanasia while also opposing the death penalty and pre-emptive war. Or one that calls for tuition tax credits for parochial schools and also for more aggressiv…

Why the Methodist Effort to Discipline Sessions Is a Risky Business

By Daniel Schultz

…on of doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrines” of The United Methodist Church. In their statement, the signers say they are “reticent” to bring charges against Sessions, but his unique role as a lay leader of the UMC and public face of the administration warrant the move. They object in particular to Sessions’ use of a passage from Romans 13 in defense of the policy, a citation the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, top executive of the…