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Politics, Not Religion, At Heart of Health Care Reform Wrangle on Abortion
Despite repeated compromises from pro-choice Democrats, anti-choice Dems threaten to kill health care reform unless all their demands are met.
Suicide Bombers and the Prozac God: A Review of Dying for Heaven
A new work advancing a radical theory of the motivation behind suicide bombers is almost bizarrely off the mark. Stitching together thought and observation from disparate and often dissonant sources, Georgetown theology professor Ariel Glucklich’s book would be laughable were he not a consultant to the defense community.
Reverend Billy For Mayor: Is He For Real?
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?
Escalating Afghanistan: What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?
Don’t the clergy have a duty to challenge the march of folly in Afghanistan and Pakistan?
The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right
President Obama averages 30 death threats per day, preachers pray publicly for his death, and right-wing pundits speak openly of military coups. Dave Neiwert, author of The Eliminationists, gives some insight into the relationship between extreme rhetoric and acts of violence.
A Pagan Republican Comes Out of the Broom Closet
Aspiring New York City councilman Dan Halloran is a practicing Neopagan, more specifically a Heathen, devoted to the religious practices and beliefs of early Northern Europe. But the oddest thing of all, to many people, is that he’s not an anti-war, enviro-activist, free-loving liberal—he’s a Republican.
Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided Explores the Dark Side of Positive Thinking
A new book reveals the historical roots and conservative uses of the positive thinking movement, showing how it encourages victim-blaming, political complacency, and a culture-wide flight from realism.
National Association of Evangelicals Supports Immigration Reform, But Elsewhere Discord Reigns
Major religious leaders support immigration reform while a think tank argues that “loving thy neighbor” is relative. When we remember that real people’s lives are at stake, the moral landscape becomes clear.
Burying the Future: Youth Violence in Chicago
The problem of children slain in urban America is usually considered an inner-city crisis, isolated from the larger social sphere. But once you know about it, or see it up close, you see it everywhere.
How Mormonism Built Glenn Beck
Some are familiar with Glenn Beck’s teary Mormon conversion story, but what many are not aware of is the extent to which Mormonism has given Beck key elements of his on-air personality and messaging—and how it may shape the future of American conservatism.
A Great Gulf Fixed: Implications of the Vanishing Religious Middle
Results of a new poll show that in matters of religion the right and left are in different universes. Why, then, are progressives so insistent on finding common ground?
Could a Prophet Be Confirmed to the US Department of Labor?
Two of the Obama administration’s picks to staff the Department of Labor are coming up for confirmation this week. M. Patricia Smith and Lorelei Boylan face opposition by right-wing business forces, who don’t appreciate the kind of advocacy they represent.
C Street Scandal, the Media, the Future of the Family: An Interview with Jeff Sharlet
It was a hot summer for the Family, the exclusive conservative Christian group with designs on DC power—three politicians with ties to their C Street headquarters were caught in sex scandals. Jeff Sharlet, author of the definitive book on the secretive group, talks with us about the flickering media spotlight, and the future of the Family.
“I Want My Country Back!”: The Demography of Discontent
It’s more than white republican conservative Christians who are losing confidence in Obama. A survey taken back in April reveals the roots of this season’s protests—the results are surprising.
Tea Partiers and Religious Right Court at Values Voter Summit
Judging by this past weekend’s marquee event on the conservative calendar, the center of gravity is moving from religious right to Tea Partiers, from homosexuality to taxes. A closer look, however, reveals the growing symbiosis between the two.
Huckabee in the Holy Land: A Christian Zionist Campaign
The religious right’s preferred presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee recently returned from a visit to Israel. What prompted Time to call it his first campaign stop in the 2012 race?
Fear of a Black President
The president reminds Glenn Beck, and those who identify with his neo-white nationalism, of the lie of their own professed superiority. The pride with which this segment of society has rallied the troops around its shared sense of whiteness reveals that their skin color is the one true object of pledged allegiance and determinant of professed patriotism.
New Poll Shows Religious Right and Left Look Very Different
Those on the religious right and left not only diverge wildly on everything from abortion to torture, but in their composition and distribution as well.
“God” is Just Another Word: A Report From a Panel on the Role of Religious Speech in Government
Can government use religious language while remaining neutral in matters of religion? This question, and others, were addressed at a lively panel discussion at Netroots last month. Bruce Ledewitz reports on the event, and sets the stage for further conversation.
Rebuilding the Wall of Separation: A Progressive Discussion on Church & State
Is it time for progressives, religious and nonreligious, to move toward a strategic acceptance of religious language in the public square? Or should efforts be focused on adding bricks to the wall of church/state separation?