Religion Dispatches
…IES FROM CHRISTIANITY TODAY What’s particular to this list, posted by the Billy Graham-founded “magazine of evangelical conviction,” is the focus on international Christianity. Number five on the CT list: Christians flee Iraq and Gaza: About 13,000 Christians—or one in two—left Mosul in October. In Gaza, churches where hundreds worshiped until recently are attended by less than a dozen. Historic Christian communities are becoming history. 4.) TOP…
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…n of phrase that recalls the rhetoric of the Quiverfull conviction, their willingness to “receive children as a blessing from the Lord.” Finally, in a reference to the importance of woman-to-woman mentoring within the conservative church, they affirmed that “mature Christian women” are obliged to disciple the next generation of Christian wives, training them in matters of submission and headship, in order to provide a legacy of “fruitful femininit…
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…ers have made billions by selling a phony version of the American Dream, while bilking thousands of ordinary American dreamers out of their hard-earned life savings. The wealth of the founders has supported the nearly 30+ year conservative makeover of American society through millions of dollars in donations to the creation and development of right-wing institutions and causes. ++++++++++ Rethinking Redemption: The Case of Charles Colson In 1990,…
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…belief that conservative Christians have been unfairly marginalized in civil discourse by evil atheists like Madelyn Murray O’Hehir, a secular educational and political establishment, and liberal traitors to the true faith like my own United Church of Christ. Conservative Christians have lost their hegemony, in other words, and they want it back. Sekulow’s not a great lawyer, as you can see from his performance in Trump’s impeachment trial, but h…
Read More…to a reception at the L.A. LGBT Center and a mini-honeymoon in WeHo. The film will be posted online at China’s top video platforms, including Youku and Tudou, for all of China to see. Though homosexuality was decriminalized in 1997, it is believed that up to 80% of gay men will marry women to avoid stigma and shame for their families. …The seven couples are winners out of 400 entries in an online contest hosted by Alibaba, a huge Chinese e-commer…
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…at before your enemies; you may make a unified stand against them but you will run away in every direction; and you will become a horror to all the states in the world.” (Deut 28:25-26) God is arguably even more “anti-Israel” in his speeches to the Prophet Amos. Addressing the northern kingdom of Israel he says: If they burrow down to Hell, From there My hand shall take them; And if they ascend to heaven, From there I will bring them down. 4 And i…
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…. Simply identifying as an atheist at first felt uncomfortable to me for a number of reasons. All of my family members remained Christian, so it was easier for me to tell them that I was “searching,” or at least agnostic, rather than atheist. Additionally, I wasn’t sure that the label applied to me. Finally, now, as a historian of religion, when I introduce myself to strangers, they inevitably ask me about my religious commitments. When I explain…
Read More…usual, though, the toplines obscure some important nuances. For example, while not everyone thinks faith is the most important factor on the subject of same-sex marriage, nearly everyone who does is against and Adam and Steve pledging their troth. An astounding 94% of those who rate religion highest oppose marriage equality. You might think that reflects a dismal failure on the part of liberal clergy such as myself. After all, shouldn’t we be abl…
Read More…is an important story when poverty and hopelessness are driving women to kill their own children. Seriously, we are all being played to focus on stupidity while the country burns and people suffer from unemployment, angst, and anger. Now that I got that off my chest, can I and all the rest of black women who don’t care or want to be married get some peace. Sheesh! The only white I want to wear in the immediate future is my Philadelphia Eagles foo…
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…y a few local connections, but they showed up with their tools and their skills and a willingness to work. There was never a whisper of sneaking Jesus in the back door, if you will, of making the help they were offering be about anything more than the work of their hands. They pitched in helping organizers at a “tent city” in Kathmandu for people who’d lost or been forced from their homes after the quake, patched concrete at buildings that are par…
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