The Most Popular Stories of 2008
The Editors.
Dec 30, 2008
The numbers are in and you, the reader, have chosen your favorite RD stories of the year; from Rick Warren to AIPAC, Sarah Palin, Creationism 2.0 and the fabled “death” of the religious right.
Obama’s Divisive Choice of Rick Warren
Michelle Goldberg.
Dec 18, 2008
In his zeal to appeal to all, the president-elect chose a pastor to give the invocation at his inauguration who has compared gays to pedophiles and abortion to the Holocaust. Why did he do it?
RDBook: Huckabee ♥’s Nobody
Kyle Mantyla.
Dec 4, 2008
Republican presidential hopeful, and dimpled everyman, Mike Huckabee’s new book is an attempt to settle scores from a contentious campaign. Why would a man with his eye on higher office so publicly slap Mitt Romney, the religious right, and the media?
Op-Ed: Damning Daschle
Frank L. Cocozzelli.
Nov 25, 2008
Tom Daschle, a pro-choice and pro-stem cell Catholic, will serve as Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services. Though attacked in the past, he has a history of keeping church and state separate.
Busy Days For ‘eBay of Prophecy’
Bill Berkowitz.
Nov 24, 2008
RD News Round-Up—November 24, 2008: Religious Right’s ‘Obama Watch’; RaptureReady.com getting readier; Focus on the Family’s ‘I Stand for Christmas’ campaign; Proposition 8: The Aftermath; Huckabee’s revenge; Christian doctrine cures OCD?
Keeping God Out of Science Class in an Obama Administration
Lauri Lebo.
Nov 24, 2008
A generation after the infamous Scopes Trial, a biology teacher, Susan Epperson, went to court and won the right to teach evolution theory. Even the election of a new, more science-friendly administration, however, does not ensure that the Bible will no longer be used as a science textbook.
Proposition 8, The Mormon Coming Out Party
Michelle Goldberg.
Nov 21, 2008
While the LDS Church’s leadership role in the passage of Proposition 8 may have been a surprising new direction for observers here in the United States, the Church has been instrumental in the organization of a world-spanning alliance of right-wing Christians and Muslims.
Don't Blame Black Voters: The Obama Non-Effect
Jonathan L. Walton.
Nov 20, 2008
It has become common to blame the black community for the passage of California's same-sex marriage ban. A look at the statistics and logic put the lie to this seductive and simplistic narrative.
A Color-Blind America? Don't Fall For The Okey-Doke
LeRhonda S. Manigault.
Nov 19, 2008
Barack Obama tried to run a color-blind campaign, and he won. But don't believe the hype: an Obama victory doesn't mean an end to racism in our culture, or that we should blithely forget the history of racial injustice.
Doubting Obama: A Response to Harper's and Simon Critchley
Linell Cady.
Nov 18, 2008
Is authentic religious commitment incompatible with critical thinking, reason, or compromise, as philosopher Simon Critchley seems to imply in a recent essay on Obama? Or is our challenge to refuse the false oppositions between total transformation and conflict, or politics and piety?
Impossible Possibilities: Obama and Power
Jonathan L. Walton.
Nov 13, 2008
Is President Obama destined to disappoint progressives? Our columnist channels theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, reminding us of the human potential for both good and evil, and offering a pragmatic approach...
A Letter to the Religious Left on the Victory of Obama
Daniel Schultz.
Nov 13, 2008
Pastor Dan addresses the Religious Left with suggestions, words of caution, a plea for compromise and a more broadly-conceived coalition than any to date.
The Politics We Deserve
Jason C. Bivins.
Nov 11, 2008
Religious politics in America have been dominated by discourses of fear, violence and triumphalism in recent decades. It may be that after this election, although warnings of doom will issue forth as loudly as ever, other conversations about religion and social change may resound as well.
RDPulpit: Rahm Emanuel No Reason for Celebration
Rabbi Michael Lerner.
Nov 10, 2008
Does Obama’s selection of a militarist Democrat as Chief of Staff mean that the Religious Left will be left behind in an Obama Administration? New: Bloggers respond.
Living to See the Day: Civil Rights Leaders and Obama
Michael A. Elliott.
Nov 7, 2008
Forty years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, veterans of the Civil Rights era still expected that they would not live to see an African American elected to the presidency. But iconic figures like C.T. Vivian supported Obama and believed that the arc was bending toward justice.
History in Real Time: Teaching Obama
Anthea Butler.
Nov 7, 2008
A professor of African-American religious history talks about teaching with a heavy heart, year after year, about the truths of racism. With the election of Barack Obama, this year will be different, but the journey of healing has only just begun.
Neither Christ Nor Antichrist: A Reflection on the Election of Barack Obama
Edward J. Blum.
Nov 6, 2008
When we think of Obama as "savior-elect," we court trouble. When we forget history we weaken our own resolve; mysteries can be dangerous and days of Jubilee do not always end with eras of sublimity.
Op-Ed: Why is My Life Still Up for a Vote?
Candace Chellew-Hodge.
Nov 5, 2008
Gay and Lesbian people are weary of being used as a political and spiritual football, tired of being kicked around. This election brought history-making moments for progressives, but some crucial setbacks for the rights of gay citizens.
Op-Ed: This Morning After
Louis A. Ruprecht.
Nov 5, 2008
World-weary cynicism vies with optimism on this day after the presidential election. Optimism wins out.
Even After an Obama Victory Reports of the Death of the Religious Right are Greatly Exaggerated
Bill Berkowitz.
Nov 5, 2008
While it won't be the same as it ever was, an Obama presidency will give the Religious Right an opportunity to bask in the glow of martyrdom and seize the mantle of underdog, while it raises hundreds of millions of dollars for its political campaigns and the never-ending ‘culture wars.’
