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Pastor Convicted in Lisa Miller Child Kidnapping Case

By Peter Montgomery

…d that as he drove home from the border, Mr. Zodhiates tried to call a cellphone number registered to Liberty Counsel, an evangelical legal group. That cellphone number has sometimes been used by Mathew D. Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel, dean of the Liberty University Law School in Lynchburg, Va., and a leader of Ms. Miller’s defense team. The RICO filed by Jenkins includes information that RD readers learned last year from Sarah Posner’s…

Global Religious Right Asks ‘How Far Can We Get?’; And More in the Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…tch has consistently criticized in countries as diverse as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Nigeria, among others. International human rights law supports the principle that everyone should be able form a family as he or she sees fit. Guatemala: Evangelical leaders back ban on marriage equality, prison sentences for abortion Legislation banning same-sex couples from getting married was introduced in Guatemala; the bill would also imprison both doct…

RD10Q: The Fight Against Feminism

By Kathryn Joyce

…ust about the openness to many children, but goes hand in hand with a self-described “patriarchy” movement, where women follow strict versions of the doctrine of headship and submission and strive to always remain under the protective “covering” or authority of their husbands and fathers. These positions are becoming more mainstream, particularly through the growth of complementarianism or “biblical manhood and womanhood” teachings in mainstream e…

Like Azusa Street Baptized into Bureaucracy: Mexico’s Flourishing LLDM Church Loses its Apostle

By Michael Schulson

…reacher whose motives, to put it gently, may not have been strictly humanitiarian. Still, when I asked Fortuny whether she believed that Samuel was guilty of sexual abuse, she did not hestitate. “I am sure these allegations are true,” she said. (Our conversation took place before it was clear that Samuel was dying). Fortuny, who has met Samuel, describes him as a megalomaniac; at once a charismatic leader and a scandal-tainted liability. “He’s the…

Are We Entering the End Times for Mainline Seminaries?

By Elesha Coffman

…seminaries derived 37 percent of their revenue from investments and depreciation in 2013, a substantially higher percentage than either Roman Catholic or inter- and non-denominational seminaries. “Even when change has been a long time coming, and even when change has been part of an institution’s history, the end of a seminary as its constituents know it is painful.” Legacy funding can only go so far, however, with enrollments dropping 24 percent…

RDPulpit: Rick Warren and the Limits of Empathy

By Tom Davis

…shibboleths of abortion and opposition to gay marriage. The Five Non-Negotiable Issues Despite all the above, on a number of issues critical to women’s lives, he remains as unyielding as the old guard figures whose wrath he incurred with his statements on global warming. On the eve of the 2004 presidential election, he sent a letter to his congregation telling them that there were five non-negotiable issues that should determine their vote—aborti…

Resurrection of ‘Comstock Laws’ Would Threaten Access to Abortifacients — But Even That Fear Misses Bigger Picture

By Gillian Frank

…s overtaxed mother relayed how her husband, a prominent chiropractic physician, asked a number of his medical colleagues “where we could get information on abortions and found that they were no more informed than we were.” It took the woman nearly two months to find reliable information. Well into her third month of pregnancy and increasingly distressed, she feared she would be compelled to have a 10th child. Although this woman, after considerabl…

The Story Behind the Catholic Church’s Stunning Contraception Reversal

By Patricia Miller

…anning dated back to 1930 and the papal encyclical Casti Connubi (On Christian Marriage), which was written to address the growing acceptance of birth control throughout the Western world. The tipping point was reached in 1930, when the Anglican Church officially approved the use of birth control by married couples. Other Protestant denominations soon followed, signaling that contraceptives had gained moral and social legitimacy. The Catholic Chur…

Trump the Totem: Like Other Fascist Leaders, Trump has Turned from Man to Symbol — And That’s the Danger

By Robert P. Jones

…ict in a fair trial results in solidified support, record fundraising, and desperate Christian defenses of a convicted felon. [On the latter, see Al Mohler, president of the SBC’s flagship seminary: “Say what you will about Donald Trump and his sex scandals, he doesn’t confuse male and female.” Also, see “From Fox News to the Far(ther) Right — Calls for Violence and Retribution Follow Trump Verdict“] Sociologists have used the term “totem” to desc…

Review: Is the Religious Right Dying?

By Laura R. Olson

…ionne Jr. argues: “The religious winds are changing. Over the last two decades, and especially the last few years, we have witnessed a great commotion over religion and politics… The era of the Religious Right is over.” Dionne’s argument exemplifies recent elite-level discourse about the impending or current demise of the religious right. Other noteworthy entries in this growing oeuvre include leading religious left activist Rev. Jim Wallis’ vivid…