The relevance of Critical Religion The first issue to mention is relevance: that ‘critical religion’ is not only concerned with ‘religion’ as a category, or with religious studies as a discipline. We are equally concerned with other leading categories such as ‘politics’, ‘economics’, ‘political economy’, and the ‘nonreligious secular’. In fact one element of our position is that these apparently separate categories are really parts of a system of representations which have no meaning in themselves, but rely on an... Read more

In his re-election victory, Democrat Barack Obama narrowly defeated Republican Mitt Romney in the national popular vote (50% to 48%)1. Obama’s margin of victory was much smaller than in 2008 when he defeated John McCain by a 53% to 46% margin, and he lost ground among white evangelical Protestants and white Catholics. But the basic religious contours of the 2012 electorate resemble recent elections – traditionally Republican groups such as white evangelicals and weekly churchgoers strongly backed Romney, while traditionally... Read more

An evangelist with a nationally-known ministry released a post-election statement today, attributing the presidency of Barack Obama to the “Godless government gospel” being proliferated by a number of prominent evangelical leaders who demand morality in and by the government apart from the moral Lawgiver. Michael Marcavage of the Philadelphia-based ministry Repent America said that he has observed much hypocrisy from evangelicals this election, who who have decried the sins of America while at the same time aggressively supporting and promoting candidates that... Read more

Conventional wisdom holds that Christians, as members of a “universal” religion, believe more or less the same things regarding their faith. According to a new book by Rice sociologist and Kinder Institute for Urban Research Co-director Michael Emerson, this couldn’t be further from the truth. “Blacks and Whites in Christian America,” authored by Emerson and Jason Shelton, an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at the University of Texas–Arlington, examines the differences between the two races when it comes to... Read more

In 1979, McDonald’s introduced the Happy Meal. Sometime after that, it was decided that the Bible teaches that human life begins at conception. Ask any American evangelical, today, what the Bible says about abortion and they will insist that this is what it says. (Many don’t actually believe this, but they know it is the only answer that won’t get them in trouble.) They’ll be a little fuzzy on where, exactly, the Bible says this, but they’ll insist that it... Read more

by Andre E. Johnson R3 Editor As I reflect on the 2012 election, the first group that comes to mind is conservative evangelicals who, despite their former beliefs and protestations about Mormonism, supported Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon. As I wrote about earlier when I began to see this trend happening, there is nothing wrong with conservative evangelicals supporting a Mormon candidate. I even suggested that maybe some in the conservative evangelical wing of the Republican Party were evolving to... Read more

As the results of Tuesday’s elections sink in, and bishops’ secretaries double check the flight reservations for their bosses headed to Baltimore for the annual plenary meeting next Monday, the bishops themselves must survey the political landscape and ask themselves how they can best manage the always tricky fault lines between politics and religion in American culture. First and foremost, the bishops must ask themselves how political engagement does or does not advance the lived communion of Catholics. Bishops are... Read more

When the word came in last night that Barack Obama and the Democrats had won national elections in something close to a landslide, millions of Americans went to bed satisfied that even if their candidate didn’t win, democracy had survived. The lopsided results made it clear that this election had in no way been stolen. But not so at Ole Miss, which last month marked the 50th anniversary of deadly segregationist riots. Shortly after midnight, several hundred mostly white students protested... Read more

A few days ago, I was lunching with my husband and as we’ve often found ourselves of late, we were discussing the upcoming presidential election. In one sentence, I was expressing my confidence that I felt Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had an equal chance at the office, of which he agreed, and in the next I confessed my unbelief, or perhaps lack of faith, that this could actually happen. Although considered a very close race, it still seemed so... Read more

There has been much speculation about the political theology of President Barack Obama. Some of this speculation emerged out of his words and actions, and some has been invented out of ignorance or lies (such as the belief that he is a rabid postcolonial Islamist). For example, he famously named Christian social ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr as his favorite political philosopher, and was baptized by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a pastor deeply influenced by Black Liberation Theology. The former admission inspired numerous... Read more