In November 2012, Bob Jones University, the longtime flagship institution of fundamentalism, announced it had hired GRACE (short for Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), an independent group of evangelical lawyers, pastors, and psychologists, to investigate the university’s handling of sexual-abuse and -harassment reports. Bob Jones officials said they were taking the step after watching the pedophilia scandal unfold at Pennsylvania State University the previous year. They vowed to ask forgiveness of any students they may have “underserved.”... Read more

Hey, we’ve (probably) never met, but there’s something that I’d like to get off my chest: I’m a secular student of religion. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, but it certainly feels like a big confession to make in a forum about religion. That said, let me explain why I think it matters that feminist seculars like myself study in seminaries and theological schools and what these non-secular institutions can do to help foster our growth within their... Read more

Mark Valeri knows more about the economic thinking of the century before the founders than anyone alive. Instead of spending time reading books by other historians, he spent a decade on-and-off reading his way through the diaries, sermons, sermon notes, and ledger books of the New England Puritans who were gradually transformed into the New England Yankees, heroes of commercial enterprise.What he found upset two prevailing myths of history. One is that Calvin and Calvinists were, from the beginning, great... Read more

Americans like to debate the “wall of separation” between church and state. Conservatives denounce it as an invention of that sinister Francophile Thomas Jefferson. Liberals point out its roots in American religion going back to 1644.  But there is no wall. There may never have been one, and in any case there hasn’t been one for some time. There is merely an ill-defined grassy verge between the domain of majority religion on the one hand and that of dissent on... Read more

This provides an annotated bibliography of the Nigerian group Boko Haram. The bibliography doesn’t include newspaper or online news stories. I’ve included links where possible, and indicated if pieces are open access or require subscription. Thanks to those who have sent me pieces or links – I’d welcome corrections and further suggestions. Created 14 February 2013; updated 27 March 2013 – added Agbiboa (2013); Anonymous 2012; Blanquart (2012); Gartenstein-Ross (2012); Kashi and Watts (2008); Lyman (2009); Musa (2012); Nwanegbo and Odigbo (2013); Onapajo... Read more

The Pure Flix Entertainment production God’s Not Dead has done remarkably well at the box office for a “Christian drama film,” ranking 4th in the U.S. on its opening weekend and turning an approximately $2 million budget into a gross of over $50 million to date. Heck, it even made it to theatres as far north as Winnipeg, Manitoba, where I caught its name in bright lights, nestled in between Johnny Depp’s latest sci-fi drama, Transcendence, andCaptain America: The Winter Soldier. The same... Read more

Fifth International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society University of California at Berkeley Berkeley, California, USA 16-17 April 2015 CALL FOR PAPERS The International Advisory Board is pleased to announce the Call For Papers for the Fifth International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society. The Religion Conference will be held 16-17 April 2015 at the University of California at Berkeley in Berkeley, USA. Special Conference Focus: Social Movements and Faith Religious commitments are, as often as not, social... Read more

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the centuries-old tradition of offering prayers at the start of government meetings. The 5-4 decision in favor of the any-prayer-goes policy in the town of Greece, N.Y., avoided two alternatives that the justices clearly found abhorrent: having government leaders parse prayers, or outlawing them altogether.It was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, with the court’s conservatives agreeing and its liberals, led by Justice Elena Kagan, dissenting.It was a narrow victory for the the town, which was... Read more

It’s not fashionable to talk about “the truth” in matters of religion. A popular objection to religious tradition goes, “I don’t believe that any single religious tradition can claim to have figured out the truth. Look at how many different religions there are. Look at their different cultural backgrounds, their different basic assumptions. How could anyone rationally adjudicate between all their contesting claims about ultimate reality? And if no rational decision can be made between them, then it’s sheer arrogance... Read more

Long before Doc Rivers found himself defending his Los Angeles Clippers players who were the unwelcome participants in team owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments all week, he was concerned about another sensitive subject. Religion. It was late 1999, the start of Rivers’ first season as coach of the Orlando Magic, and he saw a situation in the locker room that he felt needed to be addressed. As his players took part in the pre-game prayer that was part of their routine... Read more