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The Religious Case Against Religious Discrimination in Cakeshop Case

By Patrick Hornbeck

…thern Baptist Convention, have also weighed in, filing amicus briefs that out*]}*number those on the side of the couple. Some of these briefs argue that their religious traditions prohibit adherents from “assisting, in a meaningfully participatory manner,” in violations of religious law, and that laws like Colorado’s coerce believers into acting in defiance of their traditions; others cite instances where antidiscrimination laws have forced religious…

How a Ruling for Masterpiece Cakeshop Could Embolden White Nationalists

By Sunnivie Brydum

…ims ADF is advancing in Masterpiece Cakeshop would draw those dark forces out of the shadows. “I think we could see white supremacist arguments carving out religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws, which were rejected in the past,” she said. “Given the public resurgence of Nazis and white supremacists, I think we could see a resurgence of those kinds of claims in the courts.” Wenger acknowledged that, while only a handful of the neo-Nazi an…

Proposition 8—the Rematch?

By Bill Berkowitz

…op. 8 campaign was unfolding, some on the Christian Right were thinking about the future: How to punish the four so-call “activist judges” that voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriage, regardless of the outcome of the vote. Talk within the religious right focused on Chief Justice Ronald George, the Justice who had taken the lead in framing the court’s May decision. However, while a recall campaign would surely stir up the base’s animus agains…

Do Atheists Belong in the Interfaith Movement?

By Chris Stedman

…th coalitions will result in some good will and more favorable opinions about atheists… But this benefit has to be weighed against the cost. The mission of secular organizations is, presumably, not just to get atheists to be liked. Among other things, it’s to promote critical reasoning; it’s to advance the view that faith is decidedly not a virtue. Calling our worldview a faith does not seem the best way to achieve these objectives.” Unsurprisingl…

Conservative Christianity and Its Discontents

By Karl Giberson and Randall J. Stephens

…, is to falsely claim that there is a actual scientific debate going on about evolution and urge educators to “teach the controversy.” There is, of course, no such controversy in the scientific community. Homeschooling parents, evangelical teachers at private schools, and instructors at unaccredited religious colleges and Bible institutes share a common educational paradigm (as Julie Ingersoll has detailed here at RD –Eds). Outside the normal conv…

Are We Entering the End Times for Mainline Seminaries?

By Elesha Coffman

…are reminders that big trends like mainline decline don’t just affect poll numbers, but actual people in actual places. That school you’ve heard of—though no one you know attended it—and that church you drive by daily—though you never entered it—might one day be gone, or converted into lofts, or have its sign replaced by one in a language you can’t read. Seismic waves are lessened the farther you stand from the epicenter of a quake, but they can s…

White Evangelical Leaders Already Distancing Themselves from the “81-Percenters”

By Neil J. Young

…vangelicals”—a confusion that scholars of American religion often pointed out—but coverage of the 2016 election was marked instead by a clear and consistent distinction between white evangelicals and those evangelicals of other ethnicities. Over and over and over, news reports focused on the phenomenon of white evangelical support for Trump’s unlikely candidacy. Coverage of the election results mirrored this consistency, making absolutely clear—pa…

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

By Robert P. Jones

…o the Present and the Lucid Substack newsletter, notes, an essential attribute of authoritarian rule is “the leader’s claim that he does not just represent the nation, as do democratic heads of state, but embodies it and bears its sorrows and dreams.” Trump has consistently sought to make this classic authoritarian move. During his acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Trump claimed, “I am your voice.” In 2019, Trump called…

Right Wingers Say “Gay” is Out, But Try Putting “Unnatural Vice” On a Bumper Sticker

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…tell gays and lesbians that God will send them to hell for all eternity — out of love, mind you. But, then again, anti-gay Evangelicals have a right to be afraid. After all, researchers say the actual number of Evangelicals may well be “as small as 7 percent of the total adult population.” Which means Evangelicals know just how effective a small number of people can be at taking away the rights of other people. They just want to be the only minori…

Pope Francis Has Painted Himself into a Corner on Women Deacons

By Mary E. Hunt

…ts. Whether in campus ministry or prison work, in parishes where they now out*]}*number priests in the U.S., in religious communities or religious education, women around the world do an increasingly large share of the Roman Catholic Church’s ministry without being ordained or having decision-making power. No wonder it occurred to the nuns to mention this contradiction in conversation with the pope. When Pope Francis met with the superiors general of…