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Proposition 8, The Mormon Coming Out Party

By Michelle Goldberg

…s. Just as evangelicals cast off their previous aversion to politics in the 1970s and 1980s, Mormons are doing so today. “We’re seeing what I think is a tectonic shift in Mormon attitudes about getting involved in politics,” said Wardle. Serious theological differences may continue to hinder close collaboration between Mormons and the other sectors of the religious right. But as Catholics and Protestants showed in the 1980s and 1990s, and as Mormo…

The Problem with the Latest Predictions for ‘the Rise of the Religious Left’

By Hollis Phelps

…they’re as old as the contemporary religious right itself. For instance, in 1984 well-known Harvard Divinity School professor Harvey Cox claimed to see the emergence of a more left-leaning Christianity. In light of this, he advocated for a public “postmodern” theological and ecclesiastical movement, one whose inclusivist and liberationist bent would counteract the myopic conservatism of the religious right. Likewise, a group of religious leaders c…

The War On Terror Is Over

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…tform for building a foreign policy in South Asia and the Middle East. Anti-Americanism is at an all-time high in Pakistan, and Obama has a fresh opportunity to rebuild the terms and image of US military presence in the region. The Muslim world is waiting for a US president who can stop treating them like enemies to be invaded but as potential friends. 2. Accept that America is the enemy because of what it does, not what it is. America and other W…

Unauthorized Catholic Immigrants will Renew a Christian America, Archbishop Says

By Marie Friedmann Marquardt

…f the territory that forms part of the United States. He explains (with not-so-subtle reference to our current political landscape), “Long before the Boston Tea Party, Catholic Missionaries were celebrating the holy Mass on the soil of this continent.” In summary, he argues: This is the real reason for America, when we consider our history in light of God’s plan for the nations. America is intended to be a place of encounter with the living Jesu…

Biden’s New Domestic Terrorism Strategy Addresses Trump’s Omission of White Nationalism, But Fails to Address Targeting of Black and Brown Americans

By Sara Kamali

…at white nationalists have not faced the same tactics of surveillance. From 1991 to 1993, the FBI surveilled white nationalists, including Civilian Materiel Assistance, the Texas Light Infantry, and the American Pistol and Rifle Association, in an operation called PATCON, short for Patriot Conspiracy. Unlike the COINTELPRO operation that ran from 1956 to 1971 and the systemic surveillance of Muslim Americans after 9/11 PATCON neither resulted in p…

Is Downward Dog the Path to Hell?

By Andrea R. Jain

…lical Christian yogaphobic position and the Hindu essentialist yoga-belongs-to-Hinduism position reflect religious fundamentalist tendencies to define ideas and practices not as human constructs that are subject to change over time, but as monolithic stable products that belong in specific traditions and accordingly do not belong in others. Despite his ahistorical view of yoga, Mohler is right about two things. First, the question of whether or no…

Mormon-Born Daya Mata Typifies American Yoga

By Andrea R. Jain

…re of God, the nature of the Self, and the nature of the human body. By the 1960s and the influx of gurus to the United States who successfully disseminated yoga to members of the emergent counterculture, the Self-Realization Fellowship was already well established, and the spiritual leader was no longer an Indian guru but a former Mormon woman from Utah. Mother of Compassion Daya Mata came to occupy the leadership position after years of devotion…

RD News Round-Up—Nov. 4, 2008

By Bill Berkowitz

…Right organizations took in more than half a billion dollars over a recent 12-month period.” In the October issue of Americans United’s Church & State magazine, Rob Boston reported that: “several of the organizations showed dramatic increases in their budgets; only a few showed a drop.” Boston’s piece, titled “The Religious Right Top Ten: Right-Wing Religious Forces Have Money, Influence And Power—And They’re Seeking More,” provides useful profil…

Is the Prochoice Religious Community a Sleeping Giant?

By Frederick Clarkson

…ction cycles. But there’s no analogous sustained organizing in the moderate-to-liberal religious community with the broad political and electoral vision and ongoing development of related skills and practices that define the Christian Right. But there could be. Some may argue that a religious prochoice political movement would be little more than a funhouse mirror of the Christian Right and the institutions that undergird it. That would be a good…

LGBTQ Methodists on Whether the United Methodist Church Will Ever Affirm LGBTQ People

By Tris Mamone

…you’re not a safe and actively, loudly, courageously pro-LGBTQ space in 20-fucking-19, you are not a safe place for any families or conscientious parishioners of any kind.” Rebecca, however, believes they will see “a fully-affirming Methodist church” in their lifetime, but not necessarily a fully-affirming UMC. “We are split on this issue,” they tell RD, “almost down the middle.” Indeed, as CNN recently reported, many fear the UMC will schism int…