Search for "evangelical left"

The ADL is Correct that Antisemitism is Rising — But the Main (and Most Dangerous) Source Isn’t the Left, It’s Always Been the Right

By Shane Burley

…antisemitism. There are historic instances of violence perpetrated by the Left—often when leftists descended into the same conspiratorial populism found on the Right—but the frequency pales in comparison, and there’s been no incident of mass antisemitic violence from a left-wing movement in generations. As open antisemitism became less acceptable, the idea that an evil cabal was secretly exploiting the working class majority with equal parts fina…

5 Key Moments From the Year of the ‘Exvangelicals’

By Chrissy Stroop

…(a)theology, but rather seek to build bridges between those of us who have left evangelicalism for no religion and those of us who have departed for healthy religion. Many of us have religious trauma, and we began finding each other around the time of the 2016 election to foster our own healing through mutual understanding and the validation that comes from knowing we’re not alone. Leaving hardline faith communities can, after all, be extremely is…

Who is Religious Left?

By Frederick Clarkson

…“mindset” he writes, “has generated some surprising parallels between the left and the right.” As Jones offers little evidence for these inflammatory assertions we’re left to consider the claim on which he rests his case. In Rev. Osagyefo Sekou’s powerful critique, published on Martin Luther King’s birthday, he laments: “I am saddened by the cowardice of religious leaders and their betrayal of the best of the democratic tradition. Third Way’s put…

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church

By Christine Wicker

…entage of Americans act, think, behave or believe like the religious right evangelicals who hoped to make this an evangelical nation. I tested my thesis in all sorts of ways. Many readers be will be happy about what this book proves. And pissed off at having been so deceived. But I’d also like to do one more thing. I’d like to inspire Americans to begin telling their own ideas about morality and ethics. I’d like to hear what they are really doing…

Rejecting the Binary: Why Left v. Right Doesn’t Work

By Eric C. Miller

…the simple fact that many on the right are not religious, and many on the left are? The right-left division is ultimately reductionist—religion infuses discussions surrounding this divide, and is reduced in kind. Philosopher Karin Fry’s new book, Beyond Religious Right and Secular Left Rhetoric: The Road to Compromise explores the positions commonly advocated by culture war adversaries, searching for opportunities for reconciliation. RD’s Eric C….

Conservative Evangelicalism’s Gender Role Rift: Whither Women?

By Jacob Lupfer

…a reveal growing acceptance of same sex marriage, particularly among young evangelicals, though relatively few evangelical leaders who were not already supportive of progressive political causes have come out for same sex marriage. Yet, even within institutions and sectors where views on homosexuality are fairly uniform, when it comes to gender roles there exists considerable variation in beliefs about what the Bible requires, what institutions wi…

New Book Details Harms of Evangelical ‘Purity’ Movement and the Obstacle to Change

By Elizabeth Shively

…stian femininity or to shrink their voices down to a size that better fits evangelical ideals of gender complementarianism. Unraveling these threads could go a long way toward offering healing to evangelical women recovering from the wounds inflicted by their religious pasts. But as Klein suggests, gender complementarianism and a conservative stance on women’s issues has long served as a litmus test for belonging in evangelical circles. What happe…

Evangelicals Fire the Future: Rich Cizik’s Resignation

By Robert P. Jones

…ssues of our time,” (i.e., in their view, abortion and same-sex marriage). Evangelical Beliefs: White evangelicals do not rank abortion or same-sex marriage in their top five most important voting issues [PRR 10/2008]. Like the rest of the country, white evangelicals think issues like the economy, heath care, terrorism, and the war in Iraq are more important in deciding their vote. Two-thirds of evangelicals agree that “we have a moral obligation…

How Mega-Macho-Pastor Mark Driscoll Helps Explain Trump’s Evangelical Support

By Jessica Johnson

…bson’s Focus on the Family—the equivalent of the center-right flank of the evangelical political establishment—has faded. Meanwhile, the legacy left behind by Driscoll carries on in the thousands of pastors and congregations that he, Mars Hill, and Acts 29 (the global church planting network he co-founded) have trained in a style of masculine reform carried out by shamelessly shaming—or conjuring a fear of—religious, racialized, and sexualized “ot…

Evangelical Prof’s ‘Biblical Comma’ Tweet Exposes Paradox of ‘Respectable’ Evangelical Anti-Intellectualism

By Chrissy Stroop

…ion, RD turned to scholars in religious studies with expertise on American evangelicalism. University of North Florida Professor Julie Ingersoll noted that evangelical academics occupy an awkward space in which they must deliver anti-intellectual red meat to evangelical audiences even as they crave the respectability that comes with having credentials those outside their religious community generally will recognize as valid. “They’ve always had th…