Some among us want you to believe they represent the “center” politically or theologically — or both. Which causes me to ask: The center of what? This mythical center is wielded as a means of saying to others: “You’re an…
Why the Census Bureau doesn’t ask about religion
Americans never have been directly asked about religion in the decennial census in part because Jewish and other faith groups fear being tracked and discriminated against by the government, according to a report by Pew Research Center. Pew published “Why…
The whole gospel of God for a church and nation in crisis
In a piercingly truthful and honest op-ed in The New York Times titled “What Christian Nationalism Has Done to My State And My Faith Is A Sin,” Susan Stubson, a prominent Wyoming Republican, for whom her conservative politics and her…
Seven graphs that show the state of American religious attendance today
Sometimes a graph is worth a thousand words. Public Religion Research last week released a massive trove of data gleaned from its latest national survey that examined the religious behaviors of Americans today. The graphs from these data tell most…
The Hateful Faithful are a threat in every religion and every country
In the past week, followers of Jesus observed Maundy Thursday and Good Friday rituals followed by Easter Sunday. The same week, adherents of Judaism were preparing for Passover. Meanwhile, followers of Islam were observing daily fasts during the month of…
The great breakup in the American church and the political uses of religion
In a recent article in Politico, Joshua Zeitz begins with the decision of 400 Methodist churches in Texas alone to leave their parent denomination, The United Methodist Church, to join the new, more conservative Global Methodist Church. This reflects the…
Study shows meditation can help reduce anxiety, but younger Christians are not doing it
Meditation has been around for thousands of years, used as a religious practice to achieve mindfulness. Today, many Christians report practicing meditation at some level of frequency in their lives, but Christians as a whole disagree on what it means,…
What do we need in this time of apostasy? Revolutionary patience
We are living in a time of apostasy. We might call it the American Captivity of the Church, or of at least of an appallingly large segment of the American church. It has abandoned the heart of Christianity and obscured…
The Troubled Teen Industry, often linked to religion, is dangerous and deadly
Young people all over the internet are speaking out about their traumatic and life-altering experiences in something called the Troubled Teen Industry. The Troubled Teen Industry is “a system of underregulated residential youth treatment facilities” operating under the guise of…