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Anita Perry: “God Was Speaking to Me” that Rick Should Run for President

By Sarah Posner

Anita Perry gave a speech today at North Greenville University in South Carolina, in which she asserted that God called her husband to run for president, and that he was being “brutalized” by political opponents, even from within his own party, because of his faith. Perry revealed that in 2010, there was a “nagging and pulling at my heart for him to run for president,” but that her husband wanted to be governor of Texas. She told him there was “n…

Thinking Clearly about Anti-Mormon Prejudice

By Joanna Brooks

…ers offer anecdotes of social ostracization and exclusion. An LDS woman in South Carolina relates that she was uninvited from singing a solo at a community Christmas Eve service when it was discovered that she was Mormon. Another in Pennsylvania relates that a Baptist neighbor invited her kids over to play, but withdrew the invitation when she found out they were LDS. A man in a Texas college town writes that one mother at the neighborhood pool in…

Bachmann’s Constitutional Flameout

By Sarah Posner

At yesterday’s Republican candidate forum in South Carolina, Princeton professor Robert George, drafter of the religious right manifesto the Manhattan Declaration and founder of the American Principles Project, befuddled the participants with a line of questioning about abortion and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Michele Bachmann, who has a law degree and is an old hand in anti-abortion politics, looked genuinely confused by George’s lin…

Rick Perry’s Jesus Imperative: A Report from Saturday’s Mega-Rally

By Sarah Posner

…” said Perry, “but a salvation agenda.” Hallelujah, and onward to Iowa and South Carolina. “Only The Lord Has All The Answers” Not everyone at Saturday’s event was convinced Perry is presidential material, but what matters is that The Response has put a glow around him. Rachel Robbins, who had traveled with her family from Fort Worth, told me she didn’t know much about Perry, but that she decided to make the trip because “the government tries to d…

“Far Too Extreme For America To Accept,” Hamas “Endorsed Obama,” “Forced Abortions,” and More

By Sarah Posner

…as purchased airtime in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Carolina to broadcast its 25-minute “Breaking Point” political attack ad, starting last Friday. Using clips from Townhall.com, World Net Daily, Fox Business, CNSNews.com, and Glenn Beck, narrator E. W. Jackson invokes the boogeymen of ACORN, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the New Black Panther Party, Hamas, and Mao Tse-Tung to paint President Obama and the Democratic Party as “extre…

Our Economic Theocracy

By Sarah Posner

…itol Hill indeed. Look how many members of Congress have committed themselves to praying for you and your country, and how well that has translated into, you know, legislating. After Boehner unsuccessfully attempted to twist their arms yesterday, three members of South Carolina’s recalcitrant congressional delegation — Mick Mulvaney, Tim Scott, and Jeff Duncan, three-quarters of what is known as the “Four Horsemen” delegation — retreated to a Capi…

Which Hogwarts House would Jesus be in? Or would He be in a Walmart Receipt?

By Michael J. Altman

…New Jersey could sue a restaurant that accidentally served them meat. The Hindus want the restaurant to pay for their trip to India to perform cleansing rituals for the carnivorous gaffe. Is Chain World a video game, a religion, or both? A couple in South Carolina saw the face of Jesus in their Walmart receipt. Jesus saves, indeed. Christ will no longer be a part of Campus Crusade for Christ. The evangelical college ministry is changing its name…

Errol Morris’ Tabloid Sensationalizes Mormonism and ‘Cult’ Deprogramming

By David Mihalyfy

…ing documentary maker Errol Morris turns to a 1977 scandal involving North Carolina beauty queen Joyce McKinney in his new documentary Tabloid—an episode deeply intertwined with, among other things, Mormonism and cult deprogramming. Morris’ corpus has consistently focused on self-deception and the difficulties in reconstructing past events, and Tabloid is no exception. The McKinney scandal is simple: in love with a young Mormon named Kirk Anderson…

Wild Goose Festival’s (Mostly) Welcoming Spirit for LGBT Christians

By Kristin Rawls

…June 23, 1700 people gathered at Shakori Hills Farm, near Pittsboro, North Carolina, for the first Wild Goose Festival. Inspired by Greenbelt, the popular British festival, Wild Goose would celebrate faith, justice, music, and the arts “from a range of Christian perspectives and traditions” and offer welcome “to all regardless of belief, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, denomination, or religious affiliation.” But before the festival even started, qu…

Austrian Court Okays Head-Colander in Driver’s License: Is Pastafarianism Becoming a Religion?

By Joseph Laycock

…astafarians created charts showing a direct relationship between declining numbers of pirates and rising global temperature. In 2008, Pastafarians organized “Skepticon,” an annual convention for skeptics and atheists held in the heart of the Bible Belt. FSM also gained significant support in Europe. In 2007, FSM appeared in a Council of Europe report on efforts to teach creationism in schools. Success has altered the polemics of FSM as Pastafarian…