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The Mystic in the Rye: JD Salinger’s Religious Fiction

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…at you must be longing to hear now. That is, if as I know you do, you love best in this world those little beings of pure spirit with a natural temperature of 125, then it naturally follows that the creature you love next best is the person—the God-knower or God-hater (almost never apparently anything in between), the saint or profligate, moralist or complete immoralist—who can write a poem that is a poem. Among human beings, he’s the curlew sandp…

How to Die in America: A Conversation with Ann Neumann

By Ellie Faustino

…quite certain. Helping a patient to understand that is sometimes the very best medicine. This is going to sound contrarian but I’m quite sincere: I’m not sure what Christian hope is, really. Some may look forward to a heavenly life after death, yes. But we all have our own vision of what that afterlife will be like. Some may believe that they are required to endure a particular amount of pain and suffering as they die. Christians, like other beli…

Mass Bible-Based Sexual Dysfunction as Root of Culture Wars? Frank Schaeffer Breaks It Down

By Frank Schaeffer

…ke-home message for readers? To be true to what I hope is the heart of the best of the universal religious message, I want to say that redemption through selflessness, hope, and love necessitates a new and fearless repudiation of the parts of holy books and traditions—be they Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or other—that bring us messages of hate, exclusion, racism, ignorance, misogyny, homophobia, tribalism, and fear. To find any spiritual truth withi…

The Pastoral is the Political: Let’s Stop Hyde-ing

By Harry F. Knox

…decisions about pregnancy. God trusts and empowers each of us to make the best decisions that are best for our families and ourselves. The law would remove federal, state and local legislators’ ability to interfere with this by preventing them from outlawing abortion coverage through private insurance. Removing the Hyde amendment and passing the EACH Woman Act are critical for advancing justice and liberty in America. We know, too, that there wil…

“Living in Favor, Abundance, and Joy” (Unless You’re Gay)

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…back in 2009, and his evasive answer was that homosexuality was not “God’s best” for such people. He retreated to the tired “some of his closest friends are gay, and that they tend to be ‘some of the nicest people in the world.’” Just not God’s best. Some of those nice, close friends of Joel’s may want to have a few words with him after his appearance this week on Piers Morgan’s new talk show on CNN. He again reiterates assessment of who might or…

How to Meet Muslims: A (Cinematic) Primer

By Haroon Moghul

…d in the village, sad attempts to forget historic violence and move on, as best as possible. We see in this unsettling film the true cost of extremism, and the ways in which it has undermined, cruelly and uniquely, the religious culture of the societies it does not spring from so much as it consumes from within. If I have a quarrel with the film, it is the suggestion that such extremism can be blamed solely on the 1980s dictatorship of Gen. Zia u…

Vatican Council on Women Would Be Funny Were it Not So Insulting

By Mary E. Hunt

…nation, saying statistically women do not want it. I would love to see the numbers. Since when did the Vatican worry about public opinion? Until and unless this very obvious example of Catholic women’s inferiority and marginalization is resolved, the organization is on thin ice to claim moral authority on much of anything. On the substance of religion, the best these writers offer is a series of polite questions. By now several generations of Cath…

What’s a Progressive Christian to Do? Plant a Garden [A Response]

By Daniel Schultz

…ith a liberal reading of the faith, it’s not going to happen. Probably the best reason for progressive Christians to do nothing, though, is this: they don’t want to. It’s a stock figure in those circles that the only solutions to political problems are trans-partisan. As I’ve pointed out many times, religious lefties are hesitant at best to embrace the use of political power, which keeps them ethically pure but limits their practical effectiveness…

FRC’s Perkins Selling Straight Hot Sex

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…g to sell the younger generation on the intrinsic value of marriage as the best way to raise children, they’ve decided to back up a few steps and instead pitch the great baby-making sex that straight married couples apparently have. “Those who worship God weekly have the best sex,” asserted Patrick F. Fagan, Senior Fellow and Director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) at the Family Research Council. Interestingly, however, th…

From Organized Religion to Organizing Religion: Brian D. McLaren Wants Christians to Be Better

By Peter Laarman

…e end, is up to us in creatively seizing opportunities. I’ll keep doing my best to do so, in the company of many others. Of course I think your theological section is exactly on point, but I’m reminded of how many people I’ve known who go to church precisely because of their attraction to the idea of God as an all-powerful king with zero tolerance for sin and sinners. How to you respond, pastorally, to people who say that you are reducing God to m…