Tags: family values
“Jon & Kate” Plus Prop. 8 Hate

Jonathan L. Walton.

A reality show about a failing family. The upholding of Prop. 8. There’s hypocrisy afoot in our culture.

Ignore the Rod: the Parental Rights Amendment Isn’t About Spanking

Kathryn Joyce.

The United States is the only nation save Somalia that’s failed to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Armed with a doomsday ten-point plan including the end of spankings and the government preventing parents from bringing kids to church, the force behind the movement to prevent its ratification isn’t just a bunch of strict parents.

RDPulpit: Excommunicating the Victims

Mary E. Hunt.

While the family of a 9-year-old incest victim’s abortion is excommunicated, the perpetrator never even made it to the ecclesial radar screen. Let this case signal the end of any credible claim to authority of bishops and the dawn of a new era when local communities determine their own members. I daresay the world will be a safer, kinder place.

“Not a Fan of the Undergarments”: A Mormon Mother Blogs

Karen Maezen Miller.

A Mormon mommy blogger ponders spiritual laziness, gay marriage (fine with her), projectile vomiting, the evils of daylight savings time, and the relationship between Mormon-mom perfection and antidepressants.

Change, Not Charity: What Ails the New Left-Right Coalition Against Poverty

Peter Laarman.

The Poverty Forum’s supposedly cross-the-spectrum plan to reduce poverty runs the gamut—from A to B. While it is perpetually depressing to see the Democrats drinking the Kool-Aid of “No Enemies Among The Privileged,” it actually turns the stomach a bit to see faith leaders who claim to care about the poor slurping up the same reality-free brew.

Praying Away the Gay: “This is What Love Feels Like?”

Tanya Erzen.

Prayers For Bobby, a new Lifetime TV movie, portrays the tragic struggle of a gay teen in a conservative Christian family and the family’s attempt to “heal” him. Predictably, the film was heavily criticized by the religious right.

Shhh...Don't Speak of Abortion: Roe v. Wade at Thirty-Six

Frederick Clarkson.

Recent efforts to reach a compromise between evangelicals and liberals have managed to avoid the discussion of abortion altogether. The fact remains: according to many clergy representing millions of Americans of all faiths and denominations, the moral reality of women’s lives is that sometimes abortion is the best moral choice.

This is not a Religion Column: Biblical Capitalism

Jeff Sharlet.

The roots of the economic crisis tap directly into a movement within American fundamentalism. Much has been made of Palin's Pentecostalism but her links to The Family go unnoticed.

"Biblical Manhood" Conference Espouses Male Supremacy

Kathryn Joyce.

A growing theology of male headship and female submissiveness argues that men and women are equal under God, but have different leadership responsibilities as laid out by Scripture...

Obama Criticizes Black Fatherhood

Jonathan L. Walton.

Senator Obama has contributed to a conception of responsible African American fatherhood as the shocking exception as opposed to the standard norm.

Raising Children the Right Way

Jeffrey Feldman.

James Dobson wants to teach parents how to win the war against their unruly children.

The Religious Right Goes Global with “Demographic Winter”

Kathryn Joyce.

Fears erupt over the extinction of the white, Christian West.

Mark Twain’s Blasphemy

Michael A. Elliott.

A consideration of the legacy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, on the eve of the 123rd anniversary of its publication.