Compelled by Faith: When Prayer is Not Good For You
Abby Sher collected thumbtacks and paper clips, traced the patterns on her wallpaper, and prayed fervidly to avert disaster. In another era she might have been just another pious eccentric; today she’s a recovering obsessive-compulsive who has renounced (most of) her faith.
Religion is Not about Belief: Karen Armstrong’s The Case for God
Of all the monotheisms, Christianity has come to depend the most on the idea of belief, or doctrine. But there is a strong countertradition, now submerged, that insists that any time we say we know who God is, or what God wants, we are committing an act of heresy.
The Unbelieving Future of Christian Faith
Adherence to doctrine has long been a marker of faith among Christians. But what do the creeds and fine distinctions of theological argument have to do with commitment to justice?
In another stunner from the right wing, a best-selling conservative author discovers that gays can be Christians too.
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.
Of Values and Viruses: The Challenges for Obama’s New Global AIDS Coordinator
Dr. Eric Goosby, Obama’s pick to run the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief, will face the challenge of faith-based opposition to condom distribution, among other difficulties, when he assumes this important position.
Grassroots Faith: The Lessons of The Social Gospel
Religious progressives might be arguing now over whose voices are heard in Washington, but it takes more than an ability to gain an audience with national political elites to spawn a movement; it requires the concerted effort to build a following.
Post-Modern Progressives, or Liberalism Ain’t What It Used To Be
With whom does one make alliances for the sake of peace in the world? Post-modern progressive theology does not compromise, but neither does it insist on a single truth. In its journey toward justice, it keeps its eye on the practical.
Faith is Not the Enemy of Feminism
A new report identifies three areas where women's empowerment and religion are linked: activism, scholarship, and popular culture.
RDPulpit: Torture Needs You
Relieved that Guantanamo Bay is closing? Don’t rest easy. Until we accept our collective responsibility for torture, and the fact that it requires not just the torturer's denial, but ours, it will prevail.
Twitter of Faith: Microblogging the Divine
Religious groups are discovering that Twitter can help to build a portable church, where believers can obey the timeworn injunction to “pray without ceasing”—or is it “tweet without ceasing”?
The outgoing president's much-vaunted faith may have given religion a bad name.
As you approach the end of your time in the White House, I want to make sure I say “Thank you.” Thank you for transforming my faith and my politics.
Conservative Christian Book on Obama's Faith
Author Stephen Mansfield is getting hate mail. Why does the religious right think that this ex-pastor will roast in hell?