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How Thanksgiving Became All Dinner, No Worship

By Bruce David Forbes

…joint Thanksgiving services in order to draw decent-sized crowds. Today a number of Christian churches provide no worship service at all on Thanksgiving Eve or Day. Honoring it as a special time for families to get together, the churches are content to raise Thanksgiving themes on the Sunday before or after the holiday. It may seem surprising that there is not more outcry from some Christian groups about the diminished role of church services on…

Abortion and the Stories Clergy Tell

By Dennis S. Ross

…should never happen,” was the curt response. He quickly thanked me for the service, got into the rental with family and drove back to the airport. And I was left with questions. Who told him about the botched abortion? How was it explained? What did he think at first? Was the abortion self-induced or performed by a quack? Did she die of a hemorrhage or infection? What did the rabbi say at the funeral? What would I have done were I the officiant st…

Should Christians Confess to Plants? A Cranky Meditation

By Greg Carey

…the presence of fellow believers and of God. It appears the Union worship service was part of a course on activism and liturgy rather than a regular chapel service. Perhaps worshipers were informed of the liturgy in advance. Were I asked to confess to plants without knowing it in advance, I would have been justified in feeling imposed upon. I’d also be aware others likely feel greater reservations than I. The classic liturgies have limitations, b…

The Tense History Behind Jimmy Carter’s Liberty U. Commencement Address

By John Fea

…tely successful life as judged by God” and asked them to consider that the freedoms they enjoy come with a sense of duty and service to others. Indeed, as Carter said, “We decide whether we tell the truth, or benefit from telling lies. We decide, do I hate, or am I filled with love? We’re the ones who decide: do I think only about myself or do I care for others?” Carter delivered a gentle, yet powerful, exhortation to a Christian university run by…

The Student Debt Crisis Is So Bad Even Clergy Are Packing Their Bags

By Willie Dwayne Francois

…elines, clergy employed by houses of worship are ineligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which is available to persons working in the public sector. Curiously, this isn’t on the radar of “religious freedom” activists. Education debt for clergy jeopardizes the vibrancy of many faith communities and the professional and theological priorities of clergy as parish demographics age into new forms of fixed income and weekly attendanc…

“Taliban Dan’s” Teacher: Inside Bill Gothard’s Authoritarian Subculture

By Sarah Posner

…Florida Family Policy Council named its annual award honoring “outstanding service to the pro-life and pro-family principles” after him. Recipients have included the American Family Association’s Don Wildmon. “Culture of Fear” Don Venoit, a conservative evangelical who founded Midwest Christian Outreach, a ministry devoted to countering the influence of “new religious movements,” has long been a critic of Gothard and documented his efforts to conf…

Religious Right Panic: “Anarchy” will Result if DADT is Repealed

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ed to “water down their teachings” or perhaps even be barred from military service in the future if they hold beliefs that condemn homosexuality. Austin Nimocks, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, even found a way to mix the concern about rampant sex and religious liberty with over-the-top rhetoric: No American, especially those serving in the armed forces, should be required to check their religion at the door. The agenda that is pushi…

Why the Methodist Effort to Discipline Sessions Is a Risky Business

By Daniel Schultz

The United Methodist News Service is reporting that over 600 clergy and lay members of the denomination are seeking church discipline against Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his role in the Trump administration’s policy of separating detained migrant families at the U.S. border: The group claimed in a June 18 statement that Sessions, a member of a Mobile, Alabama, church, violated Paragraph 2702.3 of the denomination’s Book of Discipline. Spec…

Life After ‘Roe’: Clergy Consider Handing Out Morning-After Pill in Church

By Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

…e who don’t think women and especially poor women should have reproductive freedom. How do you change a narrative that says religious people are anti-abortion while some secular groups support reproductive freedom? I find secular organizations are increasingly interested in the religious, the moral, what I would call the narrative of justice. The embrace of the term “reproductive justice” has been a victory for religious women inside the movement….

The Panic Over Churches’ Tax-Exempt Status in a Gay-Married World

By Sarah Posner

…us beliefs. As Justice Elena Kagan noted in the oral arguments, rabbis are free to refuse to marry couples if one member of the couple is not Jewish. That refusal is protected by the First Amendment, even though the couple, too, has religious freedom rights. What did Verrilli mean when he said, “it is going to be an issue”? Perhaps he meant opponents of same-sex marriage would make it an issue. Not that the actual loss of tax-exempt status would b…