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Rumors of the Suicide of the Liberal Church Are Exaggerated: A Response to Chris Hedges

By Mark Hulsether

…for greater vitality on the left, and I agree that this is better than steering right or being tepid—but at best what has happened on this front has been a wash for liberal Protestants in institutional terms. As I’ve argued before, amid decline from birthrates, leftward moves (not least by institutions like UTS) have probably repelled roughly an equal number of people as they have attracted—and meanwhile there has been a net loss of wealthy donors…

UPDATED: Oklahoma Personhood Bill Not Dead…

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…its uncompromising nature: a fetus at any stage of development is a legal, rights-bearing person. Full stop, no exceptions. A person is a person, the end. To be open to compromise, amendments, and qualifications is to undercut the distinctive thing about the movement. It’s what prompts some people to get on the personhood bandwagon, and to donate money. But the personhood’s failure to be open to any such compromise seems, at least in Mississippi a…

As New Poll Finds “Increased Xenophobic Streak,” Republicans Heighten Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

By Sarah Posner

…her and her baby.” Apparently this bit of Catholic teaching hasn’t moved Chris Christie, who thinks even orphans should be refused refuge. Although Trump’s supporters are the most avid opponents of immigrants, Cruz’s high-profile endorsement from Rep. Steve King (R-IA) exemplifies the clash of civilizations mentality described in the PRRI report. (A desperate second might be Mike Huckabee, with his plea for Americans to “wake up and smell the fala…

Lessons from the Defeat of the Oklahoma Personhood Bill

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…ote was likely to be successful —and indeed it wasn’t. Rep. Mike Reynolds tried twice to force a hearing on SB-1433. The first time he did not have the standing seconds necessary to appeal the chair’s ruling. The second time he was told by the chair that he was out of order, and in short order began shouting and was threatened with removal by the chair. Personhood USA has posted a video of the fracas to their YouTube channel with the title “Treaso…

As Psychedelics Experience a Renaissance, Emory’s New Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality Seeks a Novel Approach

By Hollis Phelps

…eadership. Given the more holistic emphasis of the ECPS, this isn’t necessarily surprising, but it’s something lacking at many of the existing centers devoted to the study of psychedelics. Because many of the existing centers often employ only scientific researchers or clinical professionals, a critical perspective is often lacking among them. Specifically, a lot of terms and ideas, such as “spirituality,” “religion,” and “mysticism,” get smuggled…

3 Reasons Catholic Bishops Are Holding Their Tongues on GOP Health Care Debacle

By Patricia Miller

…remained largely silent. There have been no condemnations of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, attacks on the press and outright mendacity. And while the bishops admit the GOP health “reform” efforts would be detrimental to the poor and marginalized and “fundamentally alter the social safety net for millions of people,” they have limited their objections to written statements from Bishop Frank Dewane, chairman of Committee on Domestic Justice and…

Why Even Progressive Christianity Must Own Its Complicity in Anti-LGBT Violence

By Layton E. Williams

…iled a list of the official positions on LGBT issues currently taught by various Christian denominations. According to this list, mainline Protestant denominations such as the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church claim that homosexuality is not antithetical to Christian teaching, while PCUSA supports an inclusive understanding of marriage and is “generally LGBT affirming.” Even denominations such as the Catholic Church and the United M…

New Research Links Spiritual-Not-Religious to Mental Disorder

By Elizabeth Drescher

…or religion and physical health—requires much deeper examination. (A very brief primer on the evaluation of empirical data might be in order at this point, but I’ll spare the reader a discussion of distinctions between correlation, causality, and selection. Really friends, though, since we’re all reading Pew, PRRI, and Gallup data on an almost daily basis now, it’s worth studying up here, here, and perhaps especially here.) As Professor King confi…

Census Reveals Gay People are Shockingly… Normal

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ay people in place. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, addressed the same-sex marriage issue during an interview on the CBS program 60 Minutes, urging policymakers not to tamper with the definition of what he termed “authentic marriage.” “I love my mom, but I don’t have the right to marry her,” said the archbishop, whose national public profile as a spokesman for church values rose last year, when he was elected president of the United States Conference…

Will the Pope’s Woman Problem Alienate Young Catholics?

By Patricia Miller

…g to reverse the tide of misogyny or counter the kind of sexism that impoverishes and imperils women worldwide.” It was clearly frustrating to attendees that, despite Francis’ progressive positions on many issues, he’s been unable to transcend the church’s historical, theological views of women to consider changes that would give them more authority. And to Bruenig’s assertion that “were Francis to suddenly and unilaterally controvert tradition (o…