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Do Space Aliens Need Baptism? The View From Gliese 581g

By Paul Wallace

…someone out there. So every time I read about the discovery of a new Earth-like planet or read about NASA’s upcoming Kepler planet-finding mission or watch a movie like Contact, I grow excited over—and, like Brahe, even a little afraid of—the vast unknown. My mind boggles. What’s really out there?, I wonder. Yet I cannot help but detect a kind of desperation in our quest for extraterrestrial intelligence. I can’t point to any single source of thi…

Commies, Blacks, Jews, the UCC and Other Threats to America

By Daniel Schultz

…my denomination scare Glenn Beck, that’s a good thing. It means they’re off-balance. Same goes for the ever-execrable Mark Tooley, writing the same hack piece for the 40,000th time at the Weekly Standard. He strains at gnats because ultimately he has nothing else to fall back on, no compelling ideology, no good news for anyone who hasn’t been following his worn-out shtick for thirty years. So, good if they’re afraid of the religious left. It means…

Halloween, Evangelicals, and the Macabre

By John W. Morehead

…“To describe the feast as fundamentally unchristian is therefore either ill-informed or disingenuous.” The evangelical association of Halloween with contemporary Paganism and Western esotericism and witchcraft gives further pause. Evangelical ministries will frequently address witchcraft during the month of October through radio programs, websites, blogs, and newsletters. Unfortunately, the portrait they paint tends to rehearse various mischaracte…

We Were Here Before September 11th

By Amina Wadud

…eater access to America for a select Brown Muslim population. Still African-American Muslims outnumber them, and face double invisibility and erasure: from within and from without. So, if you ever wonder why I don’t comment on some of the “top” stories in the news about Islam in America, I intentionally try not to respond to sensationalism. I don’t comment about a story if the story already gets enough media attention and if the story does not hel…

Why Anti-Gay Bullying is a Theological Issue

By Cody J. Sanders

…white lines that are drawn between conceptions of good and evil make it all-too-easy to apply these dualisms to groups of people. When theologies leave no room for ambiguity, mystery and uncertainty, it becomes very easy to identify an “us” (good, heterosexual) versus a “them” (evil, gay). Additionally, hierarchical conceptions of value and worth are implicit in many of our theological notions. Needless to say, value and worth are not distributed…

The American Media’s Longterm Ambivalence About the Papacy

By Peter Manseau

…American shores, but Luce framed his Catholic cover subjects within a week-to-week serial of significant individuals of whom lesser mortals should take note. When one of his cover-cardinals, Eugenio Pacelli, eventually became Pope Pius XII, Time could claim status not merely as Catholic observer, but Catholic kingmaker as well. Readers hoping to gain insight into what it actually might mean to live as an American Catholic who was not a member of…

This Year in Satanism

By Joseph Laycock

…st amendment and what we mean when we talk about “religion.” Here’s a month-by-month break down of 2014’s Satanic controversies. JANUARY In an interview for Religion Dispatches, Greaves explained that his goal is not to promote Satanic worship but to demonstrate why the establishment clause must be applied consistently. He stated that although he does not believe in a supernatural Satan, his group is a religion because it has shared set of values,…

More Than Big Hair and Money: Jim, Tammy Faye and the Media “Holy Wars” of the 80s

By John Wigger

…ve days a week, with little scripting. Tammy once did an episode on a merry-go-round. One cast member threw up in the dog costume he was wearing as they spun round and round, all on live television. At the time it all seemed fresh and, for many, exciting. The sex and financial shenanigans were only interesting because of the size of PTL’s cultural footprint. Did you have a specific audience in mind when writing? I have written dense academic works…

What Do ‘The Christians’ Believe? Easter Reflections from a Non-Christian

By Gary Laderman

…ve victory for President Obama nothing less than the triumph of a communist-inspired, baby-killing plot that is destructive for individuals, families, and the nation; on the other side are progressive Christians who believe President Obama should do even more to work for social justice and the betterment of humanity through governmental action. Yet both sides look to Jesus Christ for guidance about health in American society. What do the Christian…

Holy Father, You’re Not Helping: The Problem with the Pope’s Plan to Consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

By Katherine Kelaidis

…lectively interested in keeping at bay, adding fuel to their fire seems ill-advised. Also, not to steal Chrissy Stroop’s gig, but it’s really not okay to make other people your non-consensual missionary project. And it’s nonsensical to try to convert a person—or a country—that’s already converted. Unless you don’t think they really are converted; and as we’ve already discussed, in light of the history of East-West Christian relations it’s easy to…