With the 2016 presidential election battles looming, the conservative Republicans are arming themselves with deceitful rhetoric to fight for the nomination. They seek a platform focused on abortion, “religious liberty,” and same-sex marriage. That is really only a two-issue platform, because the “religious liberty” they want most is to (1) discriminate against the LGBTQ community in the law and the private sphere and (2) outlaw abortion and make contraception as hard to obtain as possible, putting women at a medical... Read more

Following is the text of an address by Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York on “Religious Belief and Public Morality: A Catholic Governor’s Perspective,” delivered September 13, 1984, as a John A. O’Brien Lecture in the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Theology. I would like to begin by drawing your attention to the title of this lecture: “Religious Belief and Public Morality: A Catholic Governor’s Perspective.” I was not invited to speak on “Church and State” generally. Certainly not... Read more

Before she and her husband adopted a son and daughter from Ethiopia, popular evangelical blogger Jen Hatmaker said she had a different view about race in America. “A couple years ago, I would’ve said we’re moving to a post-racial society because I was so under-exposed to people of color and the issues they deal with on a daily basis,” said the white Christian author, whose home renovation to make space for their growing family of seven was recently featured on... Read more

“They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnations,” writes Kurt Eichenwald of evangelical Christians. “They fall on their knees, worshipping at the base of granite monuments to the Ten Commandments…They are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch.” So begins Eichenwald’s recent cover story for Newsweek, “The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin,” which the author claims is meant to enlighten... Read more

We already know that 2014 was a big year for religious exemption cases, from the gravely serious to the immensely trivial. But what will 2015 have in store? If I were a prophet I could, of course, predict the future. But let’s just call these my top three educated guesses for the kinds of religious exemption cases we’re going to see in 2015. 1. Contraception: Total Exemption First and foremost, we’re going to see continuing litigation over the Affordable Care... Read more

On the morning of the 7 January 2015 heavily armed gunmen burst into the Paris office of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and murdered at least 12 people. The dead were journalists (including four of the most popular cartoonists in France) and two policemen, one of whom was shot at close range while appearing to surrender. Early reports suggest that the gunmen shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the shooting but links to Al-Qaeda, Islamic State or other Islamic terrorist groups... Read more

A few years ago, I formulated a working hypothesis that has guided my professional efforts as an editor ever since. It goes something like this: The more widely reported the remarks of a significant religious leader are, the less consequent they are likely to be. I’ve since come to the conclusion that the likelihood of this hypothesis being true increases exponentially if the religious leader in question happens to be the pope. Just take Pope Francis’s remarks concerning the compatibility... Read more

by C J Rhodes R3 Contributor   Last night my channel surfing proved to be profitable. I seldom have time for uninterrupted television watching, and when I do have the time I tend to turn to my iPad or one of my countless books. But last night I decided to recline and waste an hour for televisual consumption. After watching Shark Tank I began to flip to various channels. We have hundreds of channels but I only consistently watch a... Read more

There are a number of things in the Bible that should trouble any reader. We find in its pages things like genocide, gang rape, and slavery — not only being sanctioned, but at times even being commanded. For example we read in the law of Moses the divine command for God’s people to “show them no mercy” (Deuteronomy 7:2) and to “kill everything that breathes” (Deuteronomy 20:16). That’s not the whole story though. Alongside these troubling texts, we also find... Read more

Last week I wrote two back-to-back posts dealing with Christian labels, and how there are things about both the Evangelical and Progressive Christian label that I have a hard time with (I guess this post makes it a series on labels), though I love and identify with much from both groups. Both articles generated good discussions on multiple levels, as it seems I’m not alone in feeling like today’s Christian labels are inadequate in capturing my faith in a word... Read more