Search for "evangelical left"

Looking at Death: Images of 9/11, Before, During, and After

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…eptember 11, and which were staged, but it is movies such as Godzilla (top left, from 1998) and Armageddon (bottom right, from 1998) and many more, that have displayed similar New York City destruction, and made this collective vision of exploding buildings so much more forceful, but also confusing. As many news commentators suggested of the 9/11 events: “It’s just like a movie.” At first, that Tuesday morning, the billions outside the NYC area…

Obama Inaugural Address Challenges Tea Party History

By Julie Ingersoll

…using specifically on the assertion that all men are created equal. Yes he left the gendered anachronism intact but the remainder of the speech left no doubt that the meaning of the term has expanded. The story he told was not the story of conquest and expansion; it was not the story of the rise of corporate capitalism symbolized by the “self-made man;” and it certainly wasn’t the Wall Street “greed is good” creed. Like any good sermon, the presid…

Politics in a Time of Crisis: Sandy? Blame Socialism

By Haroon Moghul

…isanship, as indeed there should not be at a time like this. Except when I left my apartment this morning, and found a tasteless photocopy provided to me (as a doormat, I’d like to think) by Americans for Tax Reform. It read: “We’ve Seen Storms in Virginia. But Nothing Like This…”—with President Obama is superimposed on a stormy night sky. How tactful. This wasn’t the only tasteless act, but certainly was the only intentional one I’d encountered….

Christian Nationalism Hurts the Children It Claims to Protect — As Author Lillian Smith Understood 80 Years Ago

By Matthew Teutsch and Emma Williams

…ckschmidt notes here at RD, Moms for Liberty frames their “hatred for ‘the Left,’ the LGBTQ+ community, and anti-racism efforts” as measures to protect children. Patriot Mobile spokeswoman Leigh Wambsganss told the crowd, “Our children belong to the Lord, not the government . . . This is not a political war, it is a spiritual war.” The summit, Brockschmidt observed, pulsed with a “religious character,” employing spiritual warfare imagery to promot…

The Other, Forgotten Apocalypse of 2011

By Jason Bruner

…ns of dollars from their emptied bank accounts, dropped out of school, and left their jobs in order to warn others of the impending destruction. On the morning of May 22, the credulity of Camping’s followers left them to be derided or pitied, and Camping himself allowed that he was “flabbergasted.” The apocalypse didn’t come. In the minds of many, they simply had been duped. But this is only part of the story; specifically, the Western part of the…

The Role of Spirit in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement: A Conversation with Activist and Artist Patrisse Cullors

By Hebah H. Farrag

…what makes our work powerful.” Cullors grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness, but left the tradition at an early age. She watched her mother leave the fellowship several times. “At any given moment, the elders, which were all men, could decide if you were going to be disassociated from the fellowship in the Kingdom Hall,” she recalled. Such an environment left her with a deep sense of shame. “By 12, 13, I knew that this was not the place for me, but I fe…

My Lowest Point

By Amina Wadud

…. This seemed an ideal spot until a woman in black niqab squeezed in on my left just as we started the prayer. Okay then. Before we had completed silent rakaat, a call came in on my cell, and Rihanna started singing from my bag in front of me on the floor. Ms. Niqabi nudges me and signals my bag. I wait until we prostrate then switch it off while still in the bag. Phew! Minimal damage, I hope. No chance. Ms. Niqabi asks me first do I speak Arabic….

Why We Should Stop Trying to Pigeonhole This Pope

By David R. Brockman

…he evils of unbridled capitalism. Yet by no means does Francis always lean left. Although he has shown compassion toward gay and lesbian persons, for example, he has not backed off Catholic teaching about the sinfulness of homosexual behavior. I have to agree with Emma Green, who insists that “it’s essentially meaningless to try and place him on the spectrum from ‘left’ to ‘right’ in the United States.” In fact, Francis’ approach strikes me, a Pro…

A Tale of Two Fascisms: ‘Douchey’ JD Vance vs. ‘Creepy’ Blake Masters

By Annika Brockschmidt

…te incentives for higher birth rates. He has railed against “the childless Left,” targeting childless Democratic politicians: “Why is this just a normal fact of life for the leaders of our country to be people who don’t have a personal and direct stake in it via their own offspring?” Vance and Masters have both not been shy about promoting their openly anti-democratic aspirations. Both have ties to right-wing extremist blogger Curtis Yarvin, a rag…

On Eve of Sudan Split Clashes Continue

By Ashley Makar

…am Maddeng, a Southern Sudanese refugee said. “You can’t stop it.” William left his home near Abyei during the civil war. He and his brothers ran 30 kilometers into the Nuba Mountains to escape Northern troops in the late 1990s. Now, with the Sudanese army dropping bombs on South Kordofan, and hundreds of civilians running for cover in Nuba Mountain caves, William does not believe that the conflict between Northern and Southern Sudan will end with…