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David Brat: Catholic, Calvinist, and Libertarian, Oh My!

By Julie Ingersoll

…the responsibility of the family and the church and any government safety net is labelled “socialism.” It is the model in which education is the sole responsibility of families, leading to the goal of eliminating public education and any state regulation of private education and home schooling. At the very heart of this version of Calvinism is the goal of bringing all areas of life “under the Lordship of Christ.” So yes, Catholic, Calvinist, and…

New Report: Prop. 8 Was Parent-Approved

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…n marry princes and “I can marry a princess.” Almost three-quarters of the net movement toward the ban was among parents with kids under 18 living at home. Approximately 500,000 of them moved away from us. The lesson of the Yes on 8 campaign: when parents hear that their kids are in danger, even if it’s a lie some of them believe it—particularly when the lie largely goes unanswered. Fleischer was critical of the No on 8 campaign for not rebutting…

White Supremacy, Mental Illness, or Society: What’s to Blame for Religious Violence?

By Michael Schulson

…e ideologies are pervasive in the culture at large. The blame casts a wide net, not in order to single out a minority group, but in order to implicate a culture that’s been saturated with these ideas. In short, not all ideological blame is alike. But there is a common thread here in the tendency to focus exclusively on ideas as the motivation for an attack. That focus can be revealing, because ideology alone never fully explains violence. Plenty o…

“Paleo” is More Than a Fad Diet: Boyd Eaton’s Plan to Return to Eden

By Michael Schulson

…mpact on the environment, Eaton argues, it would also be better for the planet. This is Paleo eschatology, essentially—a vision of the world’s final destination, rendered in the language of an idyllic past. Eaton’s vision did not go over especially well with the other participants in the nutrition conference, most of whom were advocates of vegetarian diets, and most of whom seemed hesitant to suggest reducing the world population by a few billion…

Bishops Double Down on Issues of Pelvis Over Poverty

By Peter Montgomery

…um are demanding. No need to make a fuss about the shredding of the safety net to fund even more tax breaks for the ever-wealthier. These priorities are, as Press noted in his column, a long way from Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical that recognized workers’ rights and affirmed the “preferential option for the poor.” Noting that the wealthy can generally take care of themselves, the pope decreed: “It is for this reason that wage-earners, since they…

Despite Religious Violence, Egyptian Mosques Calling for Muslim-Christian Unity

By H.A. Hellyer

…ke are launching in the coming days a new initiative called ‘TahrirSquared.Net’, that aims to increase common civil society actions in Egypt and the region – wherever the Tahrir Square effect of joining hands against disunity and injustice has been multiplied. It was multiplied in the ‘Today, I am a Muslim too’ rally that took place in New York city, on March 6th. I saw reports of that rally from Cairo, and I saw the same imperative there on my sc…

Why Faithy Rhetoric Won’t Help Democrats

By Sarah Posner

…n Canada. In the book, Bean, who is now a strategist for the PICO National Network, argues that white evangelical political identity in the United States is formed not (as is often the stereotype) by a top-down strategy of conservative pastors telling congregants how to vote, but rather through reinforcement of ideals of what makes a “good” Christian through lay leaders, para-church organizations, and ministries both within and without the church….

Why Republicans Don’t Think Obama Is Christian

By Sarah Posner

…Israel, who contrast Obama negatively with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a February 5, 2015 floor speech, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) called Netanyahu “one of the most prescient voices that we have in the entire world to address some of the subjects and some of the dangers that face the United States of America.” In contrast, Franks claimed, Obama “chooses to listen to these mysterious voices of those who did not vote in our Nation’s…

Churches Don’t Feed People, People Feed People

By Brie Loskota

…engage in the policy advocacy more directly, joining community organizing networks and developing relationships with elected officials to shape the public processes that impact their lives. But does every congregation? What is the real capacity of congregations as a whole? Can they provide adequate social services? Can they actually replace government services or deliver them better? Many congregations that deliver services often do so not on th…

All You Had to Do Was Express Regret: Pope Benedict XVI’s Rocky Visit to Yad Vashem

By Adam Gregerman

…, is insufficient from a Catholic leader. Though some critics cast a wider net than others in the range of complaints, all these examples reflect unhappiness with Benedict’s failure to grapple self-critically with a troubling historical legacy. While their reactions are of course subjective, these assessments are entirely correct. In the speeches of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, as well as in many church documents, there is nothing resembling a d…