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Conservative Hardliners at Synod Prompt Question: “What Are We Doing Here?”

By Patricia Miller

…ument is all doom-and-gloom and doesn’t do enough to celebrate the sizable number of Catholics who are successfully leading a traditional Catholic family life, reports John Allen: The synod’s final report ‘should begin with hope rather than failures, because a great many people already do successfully live the Gospel’s good news about marriage,’ said the English-language group headed by Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, warning against breeding…

Exclusion is Causing Great Harm: A Conversation With Suspended UMC Pastor Rev. Cynthia Meyer

By Joel Pitney

…ent? Since September 1st, I’ve been on an involuntary leave of absence. I will still have my credentials, but I will not be able to serve as a clergy or perform the duties that are restricted to clergy. That’s within the entire United Methodist Church, not just your conference? Right. One thing I find interesting about this is that I grew up in the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, and it’s a much more inclusive atmosphere there. The leadership is a…

Islamic Intellectual Leadership at a Crossroads

By Amina Wadud

…ed to address these topics no matter what their intellectual discipline? Failure to do so is tantamount to moral irresponsibility. The double whammy comes when we do address them, because then we are immediately cast into the category of activist, and therefore not intellectual or intellectual enough. Let’s face it, knowledge is power and to enter the world of ideas is powerful. In 2009 a Wahabbi-funded publication called “The 500 Most Influential…

How Religion Shapes (or Doesn’t) Our Views on Public Issues

By Daniel Schultz

…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…

For Conservatives, the Future Looks Dim… and Gay

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…Americans (45%) say they think engaging in homosexual behavior is a sin, while an equal number says it is not. Those who believe homosexual behavior is a sin overwhelmingly oppose gay marriage. Similarly, those who say they personally feel there is a lot of conflict between their religious beliefs and homosexuality (35% of the public) are staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage. The even split on the issue of whether homosexuality is a sin, interes…

Religion and Resistance at the New National Museum of African American History and Culture

By Anita Little

…eum of African American History and Culture. Housed within the new museum will be the Center for the Study of African American Religion, a $10 million project that aims to further research on the inextricable role spirituality has played in black America’s past and present. I took a moment to speak with its recently appointed chief curator [and current advisor to RD’s “Remapping U.S. Christianities” initiative], the Rev. Yolanda Pierce, about the…

Mormonism’s “9/11 Mosque Moment”

By Joanna Brooks

…olleague Hussein Rashid pointed out in this must-read piece), Mormons, the number two most disliked religion in America, have no business contributing to public rage against the number one most disliked religion in America. Nor in trafficking in falsehoods like “Islam is an ideology, not a religion,” a line I’ve been hearing from a few Mormons in recent days. Islam is in fact a religion for which Mormon leaders from the time of George A. Smith…

“Real” Evangelicals Don’t Support Trump? Not So Fast…

By Neil J. Young

…ves. But that interpretation only underscores the larger point: Trump is still the one candidate who coalesces the largest number of evangelicals—even the weekly churchgoers—around him. Those numbers would likely shift should Trump face a two-man race with Ted Cruz. But if survey data still show what they have revealed so far—that Trump will continue to win at least a third of the most frequent church-attending evangelicals—it undermines anti-Trum…

Distant Churches and the Isolated Poor: Lessons from Katrina, Ten Years Later

By R. Drew Smith

…ng the strategic role envisioned within oft-noted endtimes scenarios), it will necessitate a willingness on the part of churches to be present, engaged, and steadfast in contexts where the poor have been left to struggle. Historian Randy Sparks recounts a range of ways New Orleans’ clergy and congregations mobilized on behalf of New Orleans residents during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina—including the several Catholic priests who remained…

No ‘Christian Compassion’ in Tony Perkins’ Response to Anti-Gay Bullying, Suicides

By Andrew Marin

…post in the Washington Post’s “On Faith” section, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins railed against what he describes as the opportunistic evils of the gay agenda. He did so under the auspices of addressing the recent epidemic of gay teens who have committed suicide. I find it awfully clichéd that the post’s title began with the phrase “Christian Compassion,” but let me be blunt: There was no Christian compassion in that post. There was, h…