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Errol Morris’ Tabloid Sensationalizes Mormonism and ‘Cult’ Deprogramming

By David Mihalyfy

…ot for McKinney. “Deprogramming” Was All the Rage Although never using the word “deprogramming,” McKinney and her accomplice use the word “cult” and “brainwashing,” both of which practically beg for further elaboration—which Morris never provides. Designation of certain socially marginal religious groups as “cults” was widespread in the 1970s and 1980s, and was often accompanied by the abduction and “deprogramming” of adult members. What happens w…

Why Christian Fundamentalism Is Still a Big Deal in U.S. Politics, And How It Got That Way

By Eric C. Miller

…the religious exemption claims of local business owners. A few of these struggles make national headlines—the recent firestorm over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act comes immediately to mind—but most do not. Nevertheless, they are the essence of fundamentalist political engagement. Just as Christian fundamentalists emerged by idealizing local churches as temples and fortresses against oppressive denominations, today they idealize small…

Can a Church Split Truly Be Gracious?

By Adam J. Copeland

…esbytery of San Francisco. Such eye-popping settlements reflect the PCUSA trust clause concerning church property (and California property values). As our Book of Order puts it, all property is held in trust “for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)”—even a newly built building in Bathgate, population 43. As if theological disagreements are not fraught enough, PCUSA congregations seeking to leave the denomination must negotiate f…

For Buddhism, Science is Not a Killer of Religion

By Paul Wallace

…lem of suffering; instead they represent a radically new way of seeing the world. To see the world falsely is to suffer, says the Buddha, and to see the world through the lens of the Four Seals is to see the world as it really is. And when this clear vision is acquired, suffering simply dissipates. The end of suffering comes only with right vision. So Buddhadharma suggests that you not try to relieve suffering by clinging to what you think will sa…

A Dismayed Democrat Reads the Bible

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…hat Jesus didn’t simply die, he was executed by the domination system that ruled his world. He was executed because he had become a radical critic of the way that world was put together and he was beginning to attract a following. To be very blunt, it’s difficult for me to imagine how anybody who has seen what the Bible and Jesus are about could vote for policies that actually maintain or increase the wealth of those at the top in our day. So, I d…

Masculinity and Mass Violence: When Will We Acknowledge the Smoking Gendered Pronoun Hiding in Plain Sight?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…sues that tormented the mass killers recently populating Twitter feeds and news headlines, they all sought to solve their problems with a particular expression of gun violence that maps easily to particular configurations of masculinity—apparently across classes and political ideologies. Those of us concerned with how religious ideologies participate in narratives of domination and violence, then, would do well to explore the masculinist roots of…

Do Evangelicals Oppose Syria Intervention?

By Stephen V. Anderson

…cal community at large. Why do the points made above matter? Examine these headlines, all of which are misleading—including the NAE’s. National Association of Evangelicals (News): Most Evangelical Leaders Oppose Syria Strike Christianity Today: Should U.S. Bomb Syria? Evangelical Leaders Take Surprising Vote Religion News Service (excerpted with identical headline by Religion & Politics): NAE’s Leith Anderson: Evangelicals oppose strike against S…

Pew and the Jews: “So What?”

By The Editors

…t) category of religion. At the moment, it’s not working out so well. Good News for Jewish Justice RUTH MESSINGER As an organizer my question is: Where are American Jews now? Spiritual (and Jewish), But Not Religious MARTIN KAVKA Among other things, the Pew poll gives us the fascinating statistic that almost half of “Jews of no religion” are nonetheless believers. Opportunity Knocks in Pew Results RACHEL BARENBLAT So the ground is shifting beneath…

False Saviors: Trump, Cruz, and the Gospel of the Quick Fix

By Marcia Pally

…hose who have productive futures, especially when they see prejudice or corruption run free. ISIS promises brotherhood, goals, status, and pay. Extreme duress, pushing people to promises of immediate, sweeping relief is a volatile mix. The results are tragic when the promised relief fails, pushing people to further anger and the search for a fix. The most common features of the fix that doesn’t fix are acknowledgment that one is wronged and right…

Fired GTS Professors Go Back to Work, For Now

By Steve A. Wiggins

…al dialogue exist in such a setting. An unevenly balanced, tenuous power structure makes the Dean a fulcrum between the Board (his or her only true boss, or better, absentee landlord) and the faculty (whom s/he outranks, but by which s/he is outnumbered). If goodwill or trust breaks down between Dean and faculty (and it does) apart from invoking the Almighty, the faculty feel their only recourse is the Board. The Dean and President does not have t…