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The Visceral Vote: Obama-as-Sojourner v. McCain-as-Mythic-Hero

By Ira Chernus

…ich to live,” according to Wuthnow. Since the true threat came from within American life itself, it is hardly surprising that the communist threat was seen as much inside as outside the nation: “Americans feared that their fortress could be invaded at any time. They spent increasing amounts on national defense [and] built bomb shelters,” while at the same time they “searched for subversives in their midst.” It could hardly have been otherwise. Whe…

A Color-Blind America? Don’t Fall For The Okey-Doke

By LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant

…k that we don’t need area studies such as African American studies, Native American Studies, Asian American studies and the like—all because race/ism is no longer an issue. Within the study of religion, this could mean that examination of African American and African diasporic traditions, which are heavily (though not exclusively) rooted in the legacy of slavery, might be seen as a glimpse into the archaic past—a past that has little to no contemp…

Walt Whitman’s Sacred Democracy

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…some of the crass and narcissistic excess of a great deal of contemporary American religiosity; but also extreme interest in, and even a whiff of hope inspired by, the relentless creativity and imaginativeness with which Americans by and large apply themselves to the pursuit of their spiritual dreams. On the hopeful side of the ledger, I’d like to invite reflection on two things that a great many Americans seem willing to consider sacred, in L…

North America Has a Hindu Nationalist Problem, and Scholars are On the Frontlines of These Right-Wing Attacks

By Manan Ahmed, Rohit Chopra, and Audrey Truschke

…to lose if Hindutva harassment of academics continues to flourish on North American soil. The academy needs more critical thought about South Asia, not less. Academic freedom is the very heart of the globally envied North American education system. In actively trying to undermine our educational and research efforts in North America, the Hindu Right impoverishes the study of South Asia, and, moreover, it assaults the justly cherished foundation of…

Christian ‘Purity’ Guru’s Loss of Faith May Signal a Coming Reckoning For Conservative Christianity

By Elizabeth Shively

…two forces have been in American history. In Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians & Fractured American Politics (Basic Books, 2017), historian of religion R. Marie Griffith argues that the positions of progressives (including non-Christians and liberal Christians) and conservatives (including many Protestant denominations and Catholics) have been “mutually constitutive”; that is, when there were progressive gains, conservatives respon…

The ‘Fake Christian’ Deflection and Contrarian Concern Trolling: How Not to Write about Evangelical Authoritarianism

By Chrissy Stroop

…t, “Since the megachurch movement took off in the 1990s, the percentage of Americans identifying as evangelical has declined from nearly a third to just over a fifth,” suggesting direct causality. But of course, correlation isn’t causation. And sociologists have long since established that it’s actually the evangelical culture wars and the association of American Christianity with the political Right that caused the rapid decline in religious affi…

Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church: When Adults are Victims

By Kathryn Joyce

…priests and nuns carried out most of Church ministry. Since then, as their numbers declined, lay men and women in great numbers have committed themselves to work alongside priests and nuns. This partnership is essential for the Church’s mission to thrive. The Jesuit School of Theology is preparing ministerial leaders—Jesuit, religious, and lay—to work together as partners for tomorrow’s Church.” No Hierarchy of Abuse There’s a critical disconnect…

By the Way: Religious Right Losing its Grip?

By Randall Balmer

…ing about meaningful reform on this issue is to change the terms of the conversation and alter the moral climate. Besides, the only thing that both sides of what currently passes for debate over abortion agree on is that making abortion illegal will not have a significant effect on the number of abortions. The developments at Regent University and the University of Notre Dame suggest that younger evangelicals understand that, as do a growing numbe…

Grasping At Straws: The Problem with Common Ground on Abortion

By Frances Kissling

…e Common Good, favors making abortion illegal, and only views reducing the number of abortions as an interim step toward that goal. It is hard to take seriously a movement that thinks they can dramatically reduce the number of abortions while largely ignoring or denying the issue of access to contraception—including emergency contraception. One understands that they feel their hands are tied by the official position of the Catholic church against…

C Street Scandal, the Media, the Future of the Family: An Interview with Jeff Sharlet

By Bill Berkowitz

…l safe there? It’s taken a hit. That became evident to me this summer as a number of congressmen did every thing they could to distance themselves from the Family. This was especially true of conservative Democrats. Rep. Bart Stupak, who’s lived at C Street for seven years, enjoying maid service provided by Christian college girls, counseling younger Family members, and getting discounted rent, now tells the Michigan press that he had no idea wher…