ReligionDispatches.org

With his new Faith and Freedom Coalition, Ralph Reed hopes to simultaneously bury his past and to make the connection he’s been yearning for: to “address a wider range agenda, social issues plus economic issues.” Will that connection and mutual cries of socialism be enough to wed the two most energetic right-wing movements? 

Obama is scheduled to address the National Prayer Breakfast, organized by ‘The Family,’ which has ties to the ‘kill-the-gays’ bill in Uganda. Religious leaders, including a member of the president's faith-based Advisory Council, are calling on the president to condemn homophobia and offer an alternative, inclusive prayer event.

As people around the world begin to reckon with the scope of the catastrophe in Haiti, we offer a set of responses to what was—for those whose work focuses on American religion—a shameful expression of prejudice and ignorance from a once-prominent evangelical leader. 

With left-leaning faith groups unable to agree on abortion issues, the religious right—with the help of anti-choice Democrats—were able to convince Democratic strategists that they spoke for people of faith. Will the inability to take a strong stance for women’s rights split religious coalitions? 

Despite repeated compromises from pro-choice Democrats, anti-choice Dems threaten to kill health care reform unless all their demands are met.  

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.

This week’s rollout of a congressional bill in support of abortion reduction has been given the blessing of religious leaders from across the spectrum; a rare show of agreement over one of the most contentious issues in American society. But what does it mean that religion has played such an important role in this conflict?

Who put the mega in megachurch? Two new books, one on star evangelicals and one that focuses on African-American televangelists, tell the story—and explain the remarkable influence of celebrity preachers in the religious marketplace.

Since the 2004 defeat of John Kerry, a handful of religious Inside-the-Beltway Democrats—called the religious left by some—have seen their influence rise dramatically. But how progressive is their “broader agenda?” And what of religious left leaders who include reproductive justice and LGBT civil rights on their list?

The conservative evangelical founder of “The Call,” Lou Engle, is on a crusade to end legal abortion in the United States. He believes that George W. Bush and his Supreme Court picks were the result of prayer and, as depicted graphically in Jesus Camp, he aims to inspire young evangelicals to defeat the forces of Satan and his legislation.

A hip new apostolic movement with claims of a direct line to God, molding the young for God’s kingdom with sexual purity, 24/7 prayer, and asceticism.

In addition to his virulent anti-Catholicism and sundry bigotries, John McCain’s latest endorser is a preacher of a most curious gospel.