politics

Christmas and Religious Freedom

December 23, 2012 By James F. McGrath 6 Comments

Jim West shared this cartoon (for what reason I will not speculate): I find the cartoon bizarre. I don't think that whoever made it has any concept of either the setting into which Jesus was born or how religious freedom is safeguarded in the United States in ways that were unimagined then. Back then, there [...]

Filed Under: Christianity, politics, religion Tagged With: ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, Baptist, Baptists, cartoon, free exercise, free speech, freedom, freedom of speech, Jim West, religion, religious, separation of church and state 6 Comments

Religious Diversity and Alienation

December 19, 2012 By James F. McGrath 16 Comments

I have been struck by the language some atheist bloggers I read have used in recent days, in reference to how they felt about President Obama’s speech/sermon in Newtown. Alienation. As a progressive Christian, and as someone who has studied Biblical studies, theology, and philosophy of religion, I often feel something that could be described [...]

Filed Under: atheism, Christianity, politics, religion Tagged With: alienation, America, atheism, atheists, Baptist, Barack Obama, Butler University, Christian, church, homily, inclusive language, Newtown, president, religious, Sandy Hook Elementary School, separation of church and state, sermon, shooting, speech, tragedy, United States 16 Comments

Utopia/Dystopia

December 14, 2012 By James F. McGrath 4 Comments

Next semester my freshman course “Faith, Doubt, and Reason” focuses on “The Quest for Community” and in particular on utopias and dystopias. We read a range of works, from the real to the fiction and from the ancient to the modern – including a significant dose of science fiction. Science fiction provides a great way [...]

Filed Under: economics, politics, science fiction, Star Trek Tagged With: dystopia, future, government, libertarian, science fiction, socialism, socialist, utopia 4 Comments

The U.S. Constitution’s Intelligent Design (Lecture by Judge John E. Jones)

December 11, 2012 By James F. McGrath 1 Comment

Judge John E. Jones, who presided over the Dover Intelligent Design trial, gives a lecture with the title ”The U.S. Constitution’s Intelligent Design.” Shared by Bruce Prescott. It is more focused on the nature of the United States judicial system and Constitution, and notions such as “activist judges,” than specifically on ID, although the latter is [...]

Filed Under: Intelligent Design, politics Tagged With: ID, Intelligent Design, John E. Jones, judge, Nixon, president, supreme court, United States, USA 1 Comment

Did God Want Obama to Win the Election? Will This Be on the Exam?

November 9, 2012 By James F. McGrath 3 Comments

A colleague shared this on Facebook, suggesting that it would make for a good exam question in theology to ask students to carefully examine the underlying theological views and assumptions at play. What do you think?

Filed Under: politics, theology Tagged With: acts of God, Barack Obama, hurricane, politicians, politics, rhetoric, Sandy, theological, theology 3 Comments

Christians Need to Speak Out against these sorts of Abominations!

November 7, 2012 By James F. McGrath 17 Comments

On Facebook and elsewhere, I’ve begun to see signs of the extremism which I am convinced does not characterize everyone on that side of the political and religious spectrum, but which will need to be addressed by other conservatives who recognize it as not merely inappropriate hyperbole, but expressions of hatred, if we are to [...]

Filed Under: Christianity, fundamentalism, politics Tagged With: Barack Obama, Christianity, election, fundamentalism, hate, politics, Republican 17 Comments

The Challenge Now

November 7, 2012 By James F. McGrath 13 Comments

President Obama has been re-elected. Despite what some may say, the challenge ahead of us all is not to avoid being rounded up by presidential stormtroopers, to rescue the Constitution from being torn to shreds, or to find a place to hide and wait out the apocalypse. The challenge is whether we can find a [...]