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“Americans Hate Muslims, Too” (And Other Impediments to U.S. Advocacy for Religious Freedom Abroad)

By Chad Bauman

…hate crimes committed against Muslims in America, where, according to FBI statistics, and proportional to the respective national populations, they are roughly as common as attacks on Christians in India. (One of the reasons that this problem is of particular interest in India, of course, is that those intending to attack Muslims in America often mistakenly attack Indian American Sikhs or Hindus, as reported in this Times of India story.) All of…

Dispatches From the Beltway: Horton Hears Progressive Religion

By Robert P. Jones

…ce, where prominent faith leaders asked questions of the candidates. And just last month, Faith in Public Life convened the Compassion Forum at Messiah College, where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (John McCain was invited but declined) fielded questions from a diverse group of religious leaders about a wide range of compassion issues that cross ideological lines such as poverty, AIDS, climate change, abortion, genocide in Darfur, human rights,…

Cross-Burning Hearing Ends, Trial Set to Begin

By Lauri Lebo

…d not turn over billing records requested by plaintiffs, because a pipe burst and destroyed the laptop where the records were kept. When plaintiffs requested a hearing to discuss sanctions, Hamilton was unable to attend the meeting because he had not one, but two flat tires. The trial is scheduled to begin July 26. I’ll be honest, every time I think of the case, I just feel sad. From the moment Freshwater feared losing his job, he has tried to pre…

Bad News for LGBT Anglicans, Mormons, Adventists, Norwegians, Russians, Georgians, Egyptians, Kuwaitis, Saudis…

By Peter Montgomery

…incompatible with biblical teachings. Neither is it acceptable for Adventist pastors or churches to provide wedding services or facilities for same-sex couples.” The document is presented as guidelines rather than policy because decisions about membership are made at the local congregational level. The General Conference may not be able to constitutionally enforce them, says a representative of SDA Kinship, but the guidelines will affect the cli…

Sometimes Salvation Looks Like Rage: An Open Letter to “Non-denominational” Churches

By Yazmine Nichols

…ate the first-century church. The purpose of this language is two-fold. First, it distances the non-denominational/evangelical church from historical moments of crisis such as the Crusades; and second, it is thought to bring its subjects closer to Jesus. The word “disciple” is said to be a more accurate description of “true Jesus followers,” since the word “Christian” only appears a few times in the Bible and is described somewhat offhandedly (Act…

What Liberals Want: A Response to Susan Thistlethwaite

By Frances Kissling

…ous Left” refers to a loose grouping of writers, like the author of this post, “Pastor” Dan Schultz of Street Prophets, RD contributor Peter Laarman, Fred Clarkson (editor of Dispatches from the Religious Left), et al. — ed. I just read a provocative blog post about the differences that have emerged among faith based supporters of a public policy that is focused on economic and social justice and respect for human rights. Susan Thistlethwaite, a r…

The Real Mormon Moment

By Joanna Brooks

…same-sex civil marriage rights. “I’m really a nobody,” wrote one woman. “Just a stay at home mom who doesn’t particularly go out of her way to take up too much space on the internet.” Whether or not these formal and informal disciplinary actions have been ordered by Church headquarters in Salt Lake City has been the subject of speculation; Church officials deny high-level coordination. But it’s also being reported that the stage may have been set…

Pro- and Anti-Muslim Sentiment in Gainesville

By Julie Ingersoll

…erent political contexts. Another identified himself as a Christian of a distinct stripe by advocating burning phone books that advertise abortion and then said he doesn’t have a Qur’an but if he did he would “feed it page by page to (his) goat who would be impervious to its lies.” He then admitted he’d not read the Qur’an because he “doesn’t read fiction.” Another who insisted he didn’t “hate other religions or cultures” then argued that the “so-…

Are All Religious Experiences Reducible to 16 Desires?

By Andrew Aghapour

…claim that what they called religion simply didn’t count. Enter psychologist Steven Reiss’ new book: The 16 Strivings for God: The New Psychology of Religious Experiences. There isn’t just one fundamental desire behind religion, Reiss argues, there are sixteen of them. According to Reiss, all humans have the following innate desires: – Acceptance: the desire for positive self-regard – Curiosity: the desire for understanding – Eating: the desire f…

Secularist Activists Are Being Murdered in Bangladesh: An Ongoing Crisis Causes Many to Flee

By Michael De Dora

…enous in their religious beliefs. Attacks in Bangladesh have targeted atheists and apostates, yes, but what victims have generally shared is something more fundamental: a willingness to live according to the dictates of their own consciences, and to pursue an open, pluralistic, and democratic society. Outrageously, the Bangladesh government has done little to address this emergency, failing to instill the political will or provide the resources to…