culture wars

(A)theologies, Politics/Law

Why Atheists Should Fight For Establishment of State Religion

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The debate over the “Defense of Religion Act” in North Carolina played out with the predictability of a sitcom. I offer this modest proposal, then, to remind both sides that if this is a war, then they have fought to a stalemate, and it is time for some new tactics, by which I mean: the history of religion in America demonstrates that the winner of the culture war will be the side that does the opposite of everything they are doing now.

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Books, Culture, Sexuality/Gender

Honey Boo Boo and the Sweet By and By

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It’s easy. It’s so easy to skewer the American South, to depict its denizens and cultural products and religious values as a homogenized clutch of deprivation and backwardness. It’s so easy that The Learning Channel is riding high in the ratings game these days with Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, the latest offering to confirm mainstream media’s deep investment in portraying a one-dimensional and abject South. The old weary stereotypes slide down smoothly, like the creamy underlayer of a hashbrown casserole. It takes too much work to refract the South through a variegated interpretive lens; and besides, would consumers buy into this multifaceted vision anyway? If ever there were a bullseye target for this kind of elitist and unhelpful framing, it would surely be Southern Gospel music.

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(A)theologies, Politics/Law

Richard Land Steps Down, But Not Out of the Culture Wars

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Without question, Land will be remembered for his important roles in America’s culture wars, especially with regard to abortion and gay rights: he helped give the SBC a public witness that stood in consistent opposition to gay rights, abortion rights and even many forms of birth control. A once moderately pro-choice denomination was transformed into a “pro-life” denomination largely under Land’s leadership. He also narrowly defined “pro-life” for evangelicals to mean strictly “anti-abortion,” eschewing the more expansive understanding of that concept offered by the Catholic Church.   

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Politics/Law

Keeping the “Southern” in Southern Baptist Convention

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For leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, if heaven ain’t a lot like Dixie—with low taxes, fewer regulations, a decreased state involvement in public welfare and institutions, denial of coverage for women’s health concerns, and bitter attacks on the Obama administration launched from every available platform—then they don’t want to go. And even the city slickers running Mitt Romney’s campaigns and the rowdy friends at Ron Paul’s rallies should be able to appreciate that.

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