Like Catholics, fundamentalists preach strict obedience to religious authority. Sex is prohibited outside of marriage and rarely discussed. Overlapping dynamics of silence and submission make conservative Christians a ripe target for sexual predators.
Instead of ‘Merry Christmas’ in July, how about celebrating Jesus’ birthday his way?
Christians who get all high and mighty about whether others say “Merry Christmas” come off as hateful jerks rather than loving soul winners. Ramping up on “Merry Christmas” may be a productive political ploy, but it’s atrocious evangelism.
Hobby Lobby fined $3 million for artifacts smuggled from Iraq
Hobby Lobby, whose owners are evangelical Christians, said it began collecting a “variety of Bibles and other artifacts” several years ago with the goal of preserving them for future generations.
When gospel sermons came on the phonograph
These folk preachers blended homespun sermon and song to offer life lessons on how to survive in a world of inequality and virulent racism.
The search for spiritual meaning in Harry Potter
Plenty of people feel that the Harry Potter stories contain spiritual messages, at least in a broad sense, all ready to be asserted and propagated, among grown-ups as well as children.
Sarah Frances Anders and record keeping
As part of her work, Anders documented the slow but steady advancement of women into Baptist pulpits. In 1983, she discovered that there were 14 women serving as Southern Baptist pastors. By 1993, that number had grown to 51.
Thomas Jefferson’s Bible Teaching
Jefferson knew that religious struggles had caused “rivers of blood” to flow all over the world. He hoped Americans would be spared this carnage, and he did his best to set us on that path.
Of thee I sing: An Independence Day meditation
It requires great subtlety to express genuine love for one’s land, one’s people, one’s culture and, at the same time, recognize the devastation, at home and abroad, done by our hand or at least in our name.
U.S. human rights activist nominated as BWA general secretary
Elijah Brown’s name will be presented to the Baptist World Alliance General Council on July 7 for a final vote.
Pope shakes up Vatican by replacing conservative doctrinal chief
In a major shake-up of the Vatican’s administration, Pope Francis replaced Catholicism’s top theologian, a conservative German cardinal who has been at odds with the pontiff’s vision of a more inclusive church.
To understand how religion shapes America, look to its early days
Religion has played an outsized role in U.S. history and politics, but it’s one that has often gone unrecognized in U.S. museums. That’s changing a the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
How Benjamin Franklin, a deist, became the founding father of a unique kind of American faith
In pioneering a doctrineless, moralized Christianity, Franklin was helping to develop one of the most common forms of spirituality in modern America.