Bill Maher gives his take on religion and the Republican field. Maher explains why he thinks Tim Tebow would be the perfect Republican candidate. Transcript below:“That’s right, take Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, the fan favorite Christian who’s in over his head on the football field, and put him somewhere where fan favorite Christians who are in over their head are welcome: the Republican presidential race.“Now, if you haven’t heard of Tim Tebow, he’s the college quarterback/religious nut the Broncos... Read more

The Rev. William Leon Ward danced himself into a sweat during a pulsating throwdown for the Lord. The artists were Christian, but their stage names — The Ambassador, Da’ T.R.U.T.H. and Mali Music — and their sound signaled their connection to hip-hop. Ward grew up in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. His father was a deacon, and he was in the choir, served as an usher and headed the youth council. Songs, Sunday school and church traditions were passed... Read more

If you’re one of those who believe that religion and science have been at war (and I’ll explain below why some believe that that “war” is actually a manufactured conflict), you might want to know that peace increasingly seems to be breaking out. The message that people do not need to choose between many religious beliefs and scientific understanding is not new — but it has been spreading. Let me provide a series of examples of what has happened on... Read more

One snowy night in January, I went to visit Elizabeth Bennett and Tracy Douglas. Elizabeth is an administrative assistant and Tracy is a dental assistant. This working-class couple and their two children (from Tracy’s prior heterosexual relationship) share an apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. They invited me to a card party, and when I arrived there were about 10 other black and Latina lesbians there. In one of the bedrooms, several children were playing games and watching... Read more

Holy rhythmical hip-hop, Batman! Perfect entrance for a post about gospel rap, huh? Holy hip-hop. Get it? Never mind. Having older parents—what most young adults would call grandparent age these days– which they finally are–I had the luxury and the privilege to grow up on gospel classics. Aretha Franklin (she did gospel), Shirley Caesar, The Mississippi Mass Choir, The Clark Sisters, Yolanda Adams, Bebe and Cece Winans—the Winans family. What ya’ll young folk know about that? Those classic tunes could... Read more

President Obama and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are receiving some criticism over the new head of their religious outreach. In October, the DNC announced Derrick Harkins, senior pastor of Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., would lead the 2012 effort. Harkins actively promotes progressive policies, and he also serves on the boards of the National Association of Evangelicals, World Relief, and Faith in Public Life. His link to evangelicals may be a strength, but it is also causing... Read more

Joshua Blackwell finally visited his mother in North Carolina this summer and they talked about his conversion to Islam. The conversation didn’t go well. Margaret Blackwell had returned at midnight from her factory job making surgical bandages. Joshua, a D.C. public school teacher, was still up. She pulled out her Bible. He opened his Koran. They tried to reach each other but ended up doing battle. It was 1 John and Surah 31, verses and ayats. It was only those... Read more

A National Association of Evangelicals board member is calling on African-Americans to vote for their conservative convictions in the 2012 election, describing President Barack Obama as a theologically liberal candidate.Bishop Harry R. Jackson. Jr., senior pastor of Hope Christian Church outside of Washington, D.C., asked blacks to re-evaluate their tendency to “flock the polls” in support of Democratic leaders in an opinion piece published Friday in The Wall Street Journal. Blacks, he noted, espouse traditional, conservative beliefs on social issues... Read more

by Mark Allen Dejong “The day will come when people will once more be called to speak the word of God in such a way that the world is changed and renewed. It will be in a new language, perhaps quite nonreligious language, but liberating and redeeming like Jesus’ language, so that people will be alarmed and yet overcome by its power.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer Introduction These prophetic words of Bonhoeffer, penned from a prison cell in Nazi Germany, come from... Read more

In his 39 years as a Catholic priest, Father Roy Bourgeois has been used to speaking his conscience on issues of justice, most notably against repressive regimes in Latin America and the U.S. foreign policy that has supported them. In recent years, the 72-year-old Bourgeois has turned his attention to the Catholic Church’s ban on women’s ordination, calling it a grave injustice and an affront to God. Bourgeois, who has been threatened by the Vatican with excommunication and now faces... Read more