Religion Dispatches
…ding up to this year’s election.“ (For more on Pray the Vote, go here) The promo for Craig Detweiler’s new book Into the Dark reads: “Detweiler, a well-respected film expert and media spokesperson on Hollywood and Christianity, examines forty-five twenty-first-century films that resonate theologically—from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Little Miss Sunshine—offering groundbreaking insight into their scriptural connections and theological applica…
Read More
…h 2016 and 2020. There is absolutely no reason to think that will change in 2024. Instead of suggesting that there might be some significant section of (White) “faith” voters who can be reached given that fewer than half of White evangelicals view Trump as a “somewhat religious” man (6% of them deem him “very religious”), one should pause here to ask how the distinctive faith of these demographics affects their vote—particularly in light of data t…
Read More
“Mamas are the key political force in 2024 and we need to harness that energy!” Ron DeSantis called down from the stage in the Franklin Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia, where 650 “joyful warriors” had gathered for the second annual “Moms for Liberty Summit.” The Florida governor was met with raucous applause—just as when he claimed that “[the Left] has awakened the most powerful force in the country: mama bears!” DeSantis, along wi…
Read More
…gelical publications, mostly notably in a February 6 story in Christianity Today. The report, “Faith Under Fire: Navigating Religious Freedom Amidst the War in Ukraine,” was published in November 2023 by Mission Eurasia (an evangelical mission agency founded when the Soviet Union collapsed) outlining church closures; destruction of church buildings; kidnappings; imprisonment and torture of religious leaders; and the murder of priests and pastors….
Read More
…ocratic turnout. Trump understands that if the abortion issue dominates the 2024 campaign, his bid may well be doomed. So he’s seeking to elicit a reaction so visceral and powerful that it overshadows abortion rights. This is precisely what making the election about his use of fascist tropes would accomplish. The 2024 election will either be about abortion rights, or it will be about Trump. One way or another, it will be a referendum. Which framin…
Read More
…not the intended audience for Trump’s Bible. Instead, when Trump sought to promote his latest wares, he didn’t approach Black American voters like some “low-rent televangelist,” as he had with the GBUSA, but rather as the neighborhood sneaker vendor. Unlike the GBUSA website, The Never Surrender High-Top Sneaker site doesn’t make grand claims about patriotism and values. Moreover, there’s no formal advertising campaign, and the site is much less p…
Read More
…ady, with the same 31% attendance in 2016, 30% in 2020 and 2022, and 32% in 2024. But women’s attendance declined precipitously, dropping five points between 2012 and 2020. Since then it’s been holding steady at 27%. Overall, women’s weekly attendance dropped nine points between 2008 and 2023, according to Burge, while men’s dropped a mere two points. So by 2023, college-educated men were five points more likely than college-educated women to atte…
Read More
…e of the Faith, the Vatican office in charge of such matters, on January 4, 2024. This move contradicted the clear statement in the original Declaration that “no further response should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type” (par. 41). The Declaration caught so many people off guard that the new and controversial Prefect of DDF, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández (whose earlier writing…
Read More
…ches will present a series of articles from the magazine’s Fall 2023/Winter 2024 issue. To fight a War on Terror, the state needs terrorists. Indeed, it creates them. As author, researcher, and organizer Dr. Maha Hilal observes, “If you followed the logic of the U.S. government when it comes to post-9/11 detentions, the prevailing wisdom seems to be that if you treat a person like a terrorist, they become one.”[1] The Public Eye, Fall 2023/Winter…
Read More
…. Still, the results are significant for understanding the political scene today. Christian nationalism should not be ignored or downplayed, but at the same time the segment of the population that embraces it is punching above its weight. Two states—Mississippi and North Dakota—reach 50% support, and only a handful land in the 40s. The rest of the nation ranges from the teens to the mid-30s. That’s a significant minority, to be sure, but a minorit…
Read More