Smelling a Secular Funk: Debating the Power of Religion in The Public Sphere
A supergroup of philosophers gathered in New York last week to talk about religion and public life, about the “centrality of the catastrophic” in today’s political context, and about considering the “uncommon” as opposed to “common ground” as a basis for ethics.
Prison Religion: Rehabilitation or Forced Conversion?
Prison and evangelical religion have been linked throughout US history; but when a faith-based rehabilitation program compels prisoners to memorize Bible verses, boundaries get blurred.
Church and State in Japan: The Case of the Yasukuni Shrine
Japan, in the throes of political and financial turmoil, is still dealing with the long-running controversy over a national shrine for WWII dead.
New atheist Daniel Dennet joined Charles Taylor and a host of others gathered at the New School Conference on the religious/secular divide, predicting a complex future for the culture wars.
RD10Q: Holy Hullabaloos: A Fun Book on Church and State
A law professor goes on the road to visit the landmarks of the history of church/state issues in America and hijinks ensue.
Obama seems to be backpedaling on the issue of “allowable discrimination.” Appropriating tax dollars to bigoted faith groups is not the change we were looking for.
California Supreme Court rules that congregations who split from their denominations must give up their property. Not a good thing for churches, or churchgoers.
The Most Popular Stories of 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.
South Carolina Christian License Plates Blocked For Now
Why is this Christian license plate different from all other vanity plates?
RD10Q: Progressive & Religious: Moving Beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming American Public Life
“Taking aim” at both the Religious Right and the New Atheists, a new book aims to make progressive politics safe for the religious, and religion safe for progressive politics.
The Religious Right’s Apocalyptic Visions of an Obama Presidency
Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family Action circulates a “Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America,” depicting a doomsday scenario of Bible banning, a disbanded Boy Scouts, taxpayer-funded abortion, gay marriage from coast to coast, talk radio outlawed, God expunged from the public sphere, and, gulp, no guns.
Several pastors are challenging the prohibition against making endorsements from the pulpit. But is there anyone who doesn't know who their pastor is pulling for?
Peer into the religious worldview of a Supreme Court Justice...