Religion Dispatches
In the Bible, God has a preference for the poor and outcast, but this message is lost on many contemporary readers. A new edition seeks to remedy this ignorance, even as it turns a tidy profit for the publisher.
Read MoreWith his signature combination of controversy-avoidance and biblical cherry-picking Joel Osteen promotes the good life.
Read MoreHow not talking culture war turned yesterday’s elections.
Read MoreHis Faith and Freedom Coalition is mobilizing for Bob McDonnell in Virgina. But is he wanted?
Read MoreNot dead yet. Again.
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Performance artist or man of God? Agitator or politician? The Church of Life After Shopping’s Reverend Billy has a choir and a congregation like a preacher—does he have to be a “real” clergyman to minister to the masses?
Read MoreBishop Spong, a compassionate theologian and wise religious leader, has declared that he is finished arguing over whether or not gays and lesbians should be fully welcomed in church and society. What’s his logic?
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Finally, something Christians, Jews, and Muslims can agree on: Apocalypse. But as the theological end-time visions of the three Abrahamic faiths converge, it is not the wrath of heaven that threatens life on Earth, but all-too-human fundamentalism and fearmongering.
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Despite resorting to demonization and dated paradigms, Max Blumenthal’s muckraking first book traces the fascinating history of the religious right and its web of gothic and aggressive conspiracy theories—making a convincing case that the Republican Party has been “shattered” by a right-wing religious movement.
Read MoreThe president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary thinks so. But here’s why he’s wrong. And why his own statement is more profane than he thinks.
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