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RDRoundtable: Republican Scandals Drag Secretive “Family” Into the Big Time
Last week it was discovered that several powerful republicans at the heart of two sex scandals—Sens. John Ensign and Tom Coburn and Gov. Mark Sanford, among others—are members of The Family, reputed to be an “aggressively anti-democratic” Christian movement quietly steering us toward a “theocentric” state. Three scholars discuss The Family with the author. Sparks fly.
To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise
According to a pathbreaking new book, Wal-Mart’s success in reframing traditional gender roles, bending the curricula of business schools, and sanctifying working-class consumer capitalism, help explain the connections between conservative politics, the market economy, and family values.
Why I Am Still a Christian
A friend once asked Diana Butler Bass why she was still a Christian. The answer lies in the question of spiritual memory, and of a community that exists through time.
Christianity v. Christ: An Excerpt From A People’s History of Christianity
Most people know only the Big-C Christianity—Christ, Constantine, Christendom, Calvin, and Christian America—but there is another one, linked to a biblical parable of a wounded man’s rescue by a stranger.
Sex Work: In Bed with the Religious Right
Is American sexual culture schizophrenic? Yes, and this has everything to do with the sexual politics of the religious right. Sexual opportunity is everywhere, but sexual rights have, at the same time, been concretely eroded.
Undercover at Falwell’s Liberty University, Finding Common Ground
Brown sophomore Kevin Roose, an Ivy-league heathen, infiltrated the nation’s holiest university and emerged a changed man—not committed to conservative Christianity, but to finding a new language for reconciliation.
Sex and the Chosen People: Be Fruitful and Multiply, Etc.
From essays on same-sex segregation in Orthodoxy to the Jewish case against marriage to queer theology, this collection—edited by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg—offers everything you ever wanted to know about Judaism and sexuality but were afraid to ask.
Transforming America’s Israel Lobby
In an excerpt from a new book Dan Fleshler, an American Jewish activist from “the pro-Israel left,” explains the reluctance of Jewish liberals to criticize Israel on the human rights front, even when they share the rest of the world’s objections to Israeli behavior.
Modern Vampires: Your Neighbors and Spouses
In studying the world of vampires, a young religion scholar is courted by MTV, forced to reckon with subtle energy (“psi”), and confronts the concerns of journalists who recall the disappearance of a colleague at work on a vampire story.
Growing Up Cult: A Memoir of Life with Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy wanted to win a Nobel prize, and to be more famous than the Dalai Lama or the Pope. Jayanti Tamm writes a book about what happens when a good guru goes bad.
Gordon Gekko Gets God: The Heritage Foundation of Theology
Even after the “revelation” that letting unregulated moneymen run the country isn't a good idea, the neoliberals at the Heritage Foundation are still churning out the message; like the latest book by “theologian” Jay W. Richards, Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution And Not the Problem.
The Bible Says... and Other Myths About Scripture
Revealing why citing “chapter and verse” once had no meaning, why 16th century Catholics capitalized “Word” but not “God,” and why the King James Bible is anti-Puritan, Lori Anne Ferrell’s new book reminds us that everything is historical: the Christian religion, the Christian people, the Christian book.
The Bible as Security Blanket, Blindfold, or Weapon
Drawing on sources as diverse as feminist theology, biblical criticism and Midrash, renowned poet Alicia Suskin Ostriker’s latest book of essays seeks to rescue the Bible from the clutches of narrow conservatism.
Christian Punk Meets American Pop; Evangelicals in the ’Burbs
How did Christianity become so commercial? Is religious punk rock an oxymoron? The author of a new book on suburban evangelicalism and Christian heavy metal shows how Christian youth culture has been commodified and sold to secular audiences.
RDBook: Christian White Nationalism in the Age of Obama
What’s a white racist to do these days? A new book examines the history of white nationalism as it has moved from the fringe to the mainstream, describes the religious roots of the movement, and alerts us to its political and social goals.
RD10Q: Thinking About God Makes Your Brain Bigger
A new book argues that spiritual practices, be they secular or religious, are inherently good for you. Meditation and prayer—be it about God, or evolution, or peace, or the Big Bang—will actually change your brain.
RD10Q: Is God a Delusion? A Reply to Religion’s Cultured Despisers
Are believers in God crazy? Are atheists? Philosopher Eric Reitan explains why he finds the ideas of the Dawkins-Hitchens crowd wanting and why readers—atheist or theist—who want to cheer and pump their fists as “their guy” strikes back against the opponent should read something else.
RDBook: There is Nothing New About the New Atheism
Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett—the new atheists are often out of their depth when it comes to real engagement with religious ideas. And what if the new atheism is not so much about theology as about politics?
RD10Q: Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World
RD columnist S. Brent Plate crosses disciplinary boundaries to show us how film creates worlds, just as religion does; through incantation or special effects anything is possible.
RD10Q: The Fight Against Feminism
It’s not just another weird religion story about families with eighteen kids. The Christian Patriarchy movement represents a growing backlash against women’s rights within religious communities.