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Neither Christ Nor Antichrist: A Reflection on the Election of Barack Obama

By Edward J. Blum

…cans were soulless beasts. One hundred years ago, divorce laws made it next-to-impossible for women to divorce their husbands. Without downplaying these historical changes, we should be wary. In many ways, Senator Obama has been transformed into a symbol. He has become a totem, representing hope, change, and even salvation. During my interview with NPR, one caller exulted as he referred to Obama as a “sublime mystery.” The caller was right. Myster…

The American Right Hasn’t Adopted Children’s Rights — They’ve Redefined and Weaponized Them

By R.L. Stollar

…ir own children. Take, for example, “Elissa’s story,” a case study of a non-binary sixth-grader who wants to be called Corey (instead of their birth name, Elissa) and their mother, Alison. Corey is experiencing significant struggles, including cutting and suicidal ideation. But when Corey, with the support of their mental-health team and public school, finally has the courage to tell Alison they’re non-binary and want to be called Corey, Alison re…

Virginians may Vote in Elections, But in Counties with Militias Democracy Hangs in the Balance

By Carolyn Gallaher and Priya Dixit

…wo efforts pushed by the VCDL shortly after the 2019 election. In a two-and-a-half-month period just after the 2019 election, for example, a wave of local governments—including 91 of Virginia’s 133 counties and 16 of its cities[58]—passed Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions. Bedford, Campbell, Franklin, and Halifax counties were among them. According to local news interviews with the VCDL’s president, the group coordinated with gun owners acros…

Is the Pope’s Concern for Immigration Just a “Numbers Game”?

By Megan Sweas

…example, conservative voices argued that his support of immigrants was self-serving. Then-Representative Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Colorado, accused the pope of “faith-based marketing,” according to the New York Times: Mr. Tancredo said Benedict’s comments welcoming immigrants ‘may have less to do with spreading the Gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the Church.’ NPR‘s recent story on immigrant Catholics shared a similar per…

The Sexual Threat to Fundamentalism

By Michelle Goldberg

…f the globalization of civil rights rhetoric. Last week, for example, sixty-six United Nations member states signed a declaration calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide. (The United States, predictably, was the one major Western nation that refused to sign). Such pressure from the developed world lets anti-gay leaders cloak themselves in anti-imperialist righteousness, in which gay rights become a decadent Western imposition…

There Will Be a Nation

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…through things that are underground, and often times by evoking water (Gen. 1:1-2, for example, relates the “formless void” to “the deep” and ultimately to “the waters”). In the beginning of Blood we find a claustrophobic cosmology, with a yet unnamed Daniel digging deep in a dark well for silver. A few years later he is digging again, and this time stumbles on oil. As the film progresses, Daniel becomes something of a demiurge, imposing cosmic or…

‘Pure White’ Examines the White Supremacist Origins of Evangelical Purity Culture

By Emma Cieslik

…s and where we can really break free of it. I think because we live in the United States where everything is hyper-individualized, we think of ourselves as being ultimately responsible for everything that’s happened to us and we don’t see ourselves as part of broader cultural movements. So, for people who are deconstructing, I want them to know this isn’t about you failing to live up to a certain set of standards. You were set up to fail. This was…

Amway, Religious Right Pyramid Scheme, Returns to the Motherland

By Bill Berkowitz

…exposing deadly “witch” hunters in Africa to the discovery of perhaps half-a-million Iberian Jews, no one does it better than Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, an absolute must-read for those following religious happenings in the United States and around the globe. Consider the following recent posts, produced by Richard Bartholomew: A report about a libel suit by one John F. Singer, a 49-year-old Queens, New York, man who claims that Centropa (th…

Global LGBT Recap: Nigeria Jails Gays, Russian Orthodox Spox Calls for Criminalization Referendum

By Peter Montgomery

…road, he notes, “The irony is that it is the new conservative vanguard—anti-gay, anti-abortion and pro–“traditional family”—that has most successfully cultivated the West’s financial and institutional support.” The church’s close ties with American evangelicals reflect a shift in policy. For much of the post-Soviet period, the Russian Orthodox Church held evangelical denominations at arm’s length, fearing that they would compete for influence with…

Two Women and a Mosque: A Convert Community Grows in Panama City

By Aliyya Swaby

…ery year, a group of black Muslims in Colón hosts an event to celebrate Eid-ul-Udha, a holiday that marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.They invite all the children in the neighborhood, regardless of religion. This year, dozens of children circled around a hired clown, who tied together balloons to entertain them. Several children took turns reciting the first several verses of the Quran in Arabic. Not all of them came from Muslim fami…