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Ensign’s Sin, Power, and No Consequences

By Sarah Posner

…or his efforts to pay off and arrange a lobbying job for Doug Hampton, his best friend and aide whose wife he’d had an affair with — said “there are consequences to sin.” He’s nonetheless confident that “God has forgiven me, and so has my wife.” The announcement comes as the Senate Ethics Committee ramps up its investigation, even though the Justice Department concluded its probe without pressing charges. Sin: Ensign had an affair with his best fr…

God Versus Mega-Aliens

By Paul Wallace

…ing on with stories? As a fiction writer, surely Zvan knows that, at their best, stories are not just about amusement. The best ones may actually be true somehow. Is Naff’s truncated religious story true in the way he suggests—literally, scientifically? Maybe so, maybe not. Is it true in the way he wants it not to be—poetically, metaphorically? Maybe so, maybe not. As a Christian, I think so. But Zvan differs: “We are better off treating [non-scie…

The Battle for the Meaning of Religious Freedom Day

By Frederick Clarkson

…om may very well determine the future of democracy in our time, just as it did in the 18th century. As historian John Ragosta told RD last year: A republic could not work if government and church officials… were trying to control what we think or prescribe what was the ‘best’ religion or which people were the ‘best’ citizens based upon their religious beliefs. If people were to make informed political choices themselves, they had to be free to thi…

‘Joel’s Army’ Is Already Here: The Obscure 20th Century Religious Movement That Profoundly Influences The Right’s Cosmic Battle

By Frederick Clarkson and André Gagné

…like Hamon’s that call for more direct engagement with the culture, accelerated conflict, and elimination of demonic and otherwise ungodly elements. This view is consistent with the views of some of the best known and most politically active apostolic leaders including Lou Engle who has organized mass prayer rallies under the rubric of The Call in major cities including Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Nashville; and for the “Kill the Gays” legisl…

Irony Thick in Bush Interview with Focus on the Family

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ng the hypocrisy of his words. Daly, similarly, did what he and Focus does best—not getting that the message they’re putting out starkly reveals their own hypocrisy. For example, Bush tells Daly: “I don’t believe you can lead by demonizing somebody. I believe you lead by convincing somebody,” he says. “And in my case, I was unable to convince (some people) on different issues. I understood that.” Here’s where tears of frustration begin. While Daly…

America, the Mythical: “Mother of Exiles” or Denier of Safe Haven?

By Ed Simon

…rected on a pike at Plymouth following the conclusion of King Phillip’s War. The settlers subsequently decided that that impalement also warranted a similar declaration of general thanksgiving. As Leonard Cohen sings of America’s covenantal ambivalence, this land is “[t]he cradle of the best and of the worst.” Thanksgiving has been marshaled yet again in the battle over what is the proper interpretation of the idea of America. With thousands of Sy…

Confronting the Rise in Conspiracy Thinking … With Wisdom Literature

By Daniel Schultz

…use, last, not everything is under our control. Walter Brueggemann says it best: “In spite of our best planning, there is an inscrutable mystery about our experience which we cannot master or manipulate.” That includes the mystery of suffering, as Job discovered. Adherents of conspiracy theories and other kinds of foolishness often ascribe far too much power and control to the leading figures of their narratives. It’s a primitive way of thinking:…

Teaching World Religion in the Dumpster Fire

By Kate Blanchard

…worth exploring, and in a college full of pre-professional majors it is my best-selling general education course, so I will not apologize for trying to complicate the views of future business people, health care professionals and public school teachers.) I struggled, as I suppose most teachers did on that day, to figure out what I would say to my students—some of whom would be triumphant, others grieving, all of them sleep-deprived. In truth, I di…

Op-Ed: Bishops vs. Catholic Politicians

By Daniel C. Maguire

…therapy which also attacks the fetus. She aborts. Case #2: In spite of her best contraceptive efforts a woman gets pregnant. She has a heart condition which would put her at high risk of dying if she stayed pregnant. She aborts. Case #3: A young woman is manic depressive and her psychotic condition is managed by lithium. She becomes pregnant in spite of her best efforts. She is told that lithium could devastate the cardiovascular system of the fet…

Huckabee Teams Up with Citizens United to Promote Fetal Personhood

By Sarah Posner

…onsibly peddles the falsehoods that abortion providers try to maximize the number of procedures they perform in order to profit, and that fetuses feel pain. The anti-choice activist Carol Everett claims she once worked for an abortion provider that aimed to perform three to five abortions on 13-18 year old girls so they would be accustomed to using abortion as a birth control method into adulthood. Dr. Laube called these claims “pure nonsense,” “p…