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The Catholic-Evangelical (Non-)Coalition

By Patricia Miller

…ere’s a tendency to attribute it to “Catholics.” How else to explain the PPRI number that only 37% of Catholics oppose the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act, when the widespread perception that Catholics were broadly disapproving of it helped gin up early and critical opposition? But it’s the bishops and Evangelicals—at nearly 60% opposed—who are the hardcore opposition to the mandate and who fostered outrage over the supposed viola…

The World is (Always) About to End, No Zombies Required

By Kelly J. Murphy

…re. It can be a source of hope for the oppressed, as it was in apartheid Africa; a critique of imperialism and commercialism; a call to remember the impact that class and gender can and does have on power dynamics. The book is more than a Doomsday Clock. Likewise, “that zombie crap you teach,” as one relative not-so-gently expressed his opinion of my course, matters. It matters because examining the monsters we fantasize about (zombies or otherwis…

Post-Election, “Is The Black Church Dead?” Redux

By Anthea Butler

…ack Republicans ran in this midterm election (some had already lost their primaries), and two are heading to Congress. Tim Scott will be the first African-American Republican to represent South Carolina in Congress since Reconstruction. (He beat out Strom Thurmond’s son in the primaries.) Iraq war veteran Allen West will be headed to Congress from Florida, despite having been fined for improperly firing his weapon to force information from a detai…

Conservative Republican Muslim Condemns Fox Report on Congressional Staffers as “Anti-Muslim Bigotry”

By Sarah Posner

…gn visitors because “they want to showcase religious freedom and Muslim-Americans flourishing in every sector of American life.” Khan called it “silly” to go after to go after people who attend the prayers, because the meetings are open to the public. “Thousands of people over the years have attended the prayers and events.” The sermons at the prayer events, he said, are “very pro-American, and tend to be about public service, and the honor of pub…

‘Imagine Better’: Can Harry Potter Change the World?

By B. Howell Belser

…al part of religious life and the formation of religious imagination. Historically, stories have been vehicles for moral formation, though their ability to influence the world has been used to subvert hegemonic power as well as to bolster it. Harry Potter is the world’s most popular series of children’s books—and one of the most contentious, coming in at number one on The American Library Association’s list of “Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 200…

How to Make Nones and Lose Money: Study Shows Cost of Catholic Sex Abuse Scandals

By Kaya Oakes

…to see that the American Catholic church doesn’t just have a crisis in the rising number of former Catholics. Unsurprisingly, those same Catholics took their money when they walked. The resulting closures of multiple parishes and a drain on the retirement fund for priests have added to the $3 billion cost of the clergy sex abuse scandal, leaving the American church with a massive money problem and shrinking numbers of parishioners on the eve of Po…

Is Twitter Doing Enough to Remove Extremist Content? An Ex-Employee Weighs In

By Sofi Hersher

…damentally a speech platform, personified in former-CEO Dick Costolo’s favorite description of the service as the “global town square.” Acknowledging that, it becomes clear how profoundly important the policy, execution, and precedent set by content removal was and is to the company and its understanding of itself. The Twitter Rules warn, in two places, that an account may be suspended if it “publish[es] or post[s] threats of violence against othe…

“Can You Tell Me Who The Villains Are?”: Rock and Religion, Irish-Style

By Lisa Bitel

…e real secret to Docs’ success lies in their devoted cult following among Irish, British, and American fans, who clearly sympathize with the band’s religious politics. Compared to a consciously self-righteous band like U2, the Saw Doctors are stealthy but incisive critics of restrictive religion. They’re humble, good-humored, musicians from down the pub of any small town: lads that anyone can chat with about things that hardly matter, which are ac…

Mormonism’s “9/11 Mosque Moment”

By Joanna Brooks

The Salt Lake Tribune has published a terrific article describing the federal inquisition of Utah Senator Reed Smoot in 1903 as Mormonism’s “9/11 Mosque Moment,” reminding us of a time when the mayor of New York City (no Bloomberg, he) banned Mormon missionaries and when Mormon elders were tarred and feathered in the South. It’s a timely and necessary reminder. Because from the chatter around the Mormon blogosphere, I’m gathering that politically…

The Anti-Trans Hate Machine’s Conspiracies Don’t Stop at the US Border

By Annika Brockschmidt

…e very same talking points have been peddled by the Christian Dominionist Erik Prince on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. It’s also no coincidence that the article’s illustration had previously featured a picture of a cartoon mouse, a well-known German kids’ cartoon. Julian Reichelt, the disgraced former editor-in-chief of “Bild,” Germany’s largest right-leaning tabloid, who was fired after a New York Times investigation found claims of sexual h…