…ic schools, this division plays out in biology classes around the country. Parents, students, teachers, and taxpayers informed by the dominant scientific view of origins expect that biology courses stress evolution. Many of those committed to a biblical view want some place for creation in the science classroom. In the United States, three basic concerns underlie most religious objections to Darwinism. In a narrow sense, any theory of evolution ch…
…rence of the Family was held in Nairobi on May 15 with the sponsorship and participation of several American anti-gay and anti-reproductive-choice organizations, including the World Congress of Families, Sharon Slater of Family Watch International, and John Eastman of the National Organization for Marriage as well as Kenya’s first lady Margaret Kenyatta, the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, National Congress of Churches Kenya, and the Kenya Conferen…
…which less than half of residents supported the right to marry a same-sex partner. The same poll found that only 57% of Mississippians thought LGBT people should be protected from discrimination, compared to 70% of Americans overall. There aren’t current data on state-by-state support for interracial marriage, but while 18% of all newly married people in urban areas are married to someone of a different race, only 3% of newlyweds in Jackson, Miss…
…learning from our colleagues and exploring these complex histories over a number of years, we have found that religious liberty is not a single, stable principle existing outside of history, as it is often depicted (particularly in policy circles in North America and Europe and by many academics invested in promoting religious freedom). It is, rather, an inescapably context-bound, polyvalent concept unfolding within divergent histories in differi…
By Randall Balmer, Anthea Butler, Evan Derkacz, Jeff Sharlet, and Diane Winston
…nd the world through support of dictators considered “men of God” (Haiti’s Papa Doc Duvalier, for whom Family members arranged congressional support, Efrain Rios Montt, the Guatemalan killer championed by Pat Robertson, etc.). That, sadly, is the link between the killer bunny and its ostensible victim, fundamentalism and the establishment. What we learn through The Family is that when it comes to the question of American democracy vs. American emp…
…ly among the poor of Africa. He is a person of generous spirit and great empathy. So it is particularly sad that his empathy does not extend to women who struggle with the issue of abortion. The mega-popular megachurch pastor comes from a long line of Southern Baptist preachers. In 1980 he began the Saddleback Church with a tiny congregation who brought lawn chairs to basement meetings. His obvious talents and experimental programs led the church…
…re two dominant models of analysis: number crunching and psychology. Greenspan was a number cruncher, says Brooks, and unfortunately, human psychology caught up with him. Greenspan saw real estate values continuing to soar with no end in sight and allowed himself to be persuaded that they would never stop rising, and certainly would never fall. So he never had to think about petty psychological realities, like a crisis of confidence, never mind an…
…ostal. These numbers bear out in the United States, where around 25% of Hispanics identify as Protestant. “Among Hispanic Protestants overall,” Pew writes, “two-thirds either say they belong to a traditional Pentecostal denomination (29%) or describe themselves as charismatic or Pentecostal Christians (38%).” Pinning down precise numbers for LLDM is almost impossible. The church claims to have more than three million members abroad, and 1.5 millio…
…ant to Bush for faith-based initiatives, returning to government in some capacity; he was thrilled when Obama announced his plan to actually expand Bush’s program, which Kuo turned against because he saw it as too partisan—and too modest. “The religious right of the future will have a much bigger, more sophisticated, and more international agenda,” Sharlet pointed out. “Much of it will revolve around the same issues that animate liberals and lefti…
…arty have to become more mainstream, more inclusive, and more tolerant? Is Palin to be the Party’s savior? Or, have the American people learned more than enough about some of the less-than-ethical ways she goes about her business? Everyone will have an opinion and most of those opinions will be flawed. After all, it is nearly impossible to predict what will happen in the coming year, let alone in 2012. Christianity Today’s Sarah Pulliam recently i…
