religion

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  9/24/2020
  

  The Evangelical Vote (audio)

  NPR's "Throughline" examines the growth of evangelical christianity as a political movement and its influence over the nomination of a Supreme Court justice and the election. 

• 
• SOURCE: Mother Jones
  9/24/2020
  

  It’s Not Anti-Catholic to Ask Amy Coney Barrett About Her Religious Group “People of Praise”

  People of Praise evolved in response to the reforms of Vatican II and the spiritual energy of evangelical Protestantism; former adherents say that the control the group exerts over members makes questions about Amy Comey Barrett's membership legitimate. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Way of Improvement Leads Home
  9/22/2020
  

  Amy Coney Barrett and the “Kingdom of God”

  by John Fea

  Liberal critics have seized on a quote from the potential Supreme Court Nominee's graduation speech to Notre Dame law students as evidence of a theocratic mindset. A historian of American religion warns the metaphor of the "kingdom of god" is widely used in political rhetoric.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  9/18/2020
  

  What Trump Taught America About the Bible

  by Peter Manseau

  The Bible is a powerful talisman for the majority of Americans, but Trump’s successful use of it these past five years suggests that, to many, it is a book whose content matters less than the one holding it; an expression of tribal identity as much as creed.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/13/2020
  

  We Can Tear Down False Idols of History. Thomas Jefferson Did it to Jesus Christ

  by Peter Manseau

  "Considering “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” anew today, we might begin by asking whether Jefferson’s willingness to challenge convention gives the lie to a justification of his many failings as unavoidable for a man of his time."

• 
• 8/16/2020
  

  Examining Christian End Times Rhetoric in the Time of COVID

  by Andrew Joseph Pegoda

  Historical amnesia and everyday privilege are what make it seem to some Christians that end prophecies are actively in progress.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/3/2020
  

  How White Supremacy Infected Christianity and the Republican Party

  Columnist Jennifer Rubin discusses the findings of Robert P. Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, presented in his new book, that elements of evangelical theology are strongly supportive of hierarchy and inequality. 

• 
• SOURCE: Going Medieval
  7/30/2020
  

  On Sex with Demons

  by Eleanor Janega

  "The idea of having sex with demons or the devil... has a long and proud history. A concern about sleep sex demons traces at least as far back as Mesopotamian myth where we see the hero Gilgamesh’s father recorded on the Sumerian King List as Lilu, a demon who targets sleeping women, in 2400 BC."

• 
• SOURCE: Patheos
  7/23/2020
  

  Os Guinness, Eric Metaxas, and Their Dangerous Myths of American History

  by Abram Van Engen

  "Only when we begin to see the multiplicity and complexity of history can we begin to understand how God moves in it and through it, and how we, in the present, can and should respond—righting wrongs and attempting to shine a light in dark places," writes Abram Van Engen.

• 
• SOURCE: University of South Carolina
  7/22/2020
  

  The Long History of How Jesus Came to Resemble a White European

  No one knows exactly what Jesus looked like, and there are no known images of him from his lifetime. Art history professor Anna Smartwood House writes about the complicated history of the images of Christ and how historically they have served many purposes.

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  7/1/2020
  

  White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots In U.S. Christianity

  At an earlier point in American history, some Christian theologians went so far as to argue that the enslavement of human beings was justifiable from a biblical point of view.

• 
• 5/31/2020
  

  Trump and the Puritans

  by Martyn Whittock

  No one would ever call Donald Trump a Puritan. But the 17th century religious movement is a foundation of Trump's America.

• 
• SOURCE: DCist
  5/19/2020
  

  The Bible Museum Has Another Epic Issue With One Of Its Artifacts

  Federal prosecutors in New York filed a civil action to forfeit one of the museum's clay tablets containing an excerpt of the "Epic of Gilgamesh."

• 
• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  5/19/2020
  

  Fundamentalist Pandemics

  by Juan Cole

  What evangelicals could learn from "The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam."

• 
• SOURCE: Forward
  5/18/2020
  

  Reform Judaism is a Wounded Giant. A Historian Explains Why it Got so Big.

  by Karla Goldman

  The Union for Reform Judaism faces a financial crisis because, while it shapes the religious practices of Reform Jews, many local congregations face their own financial difficulties and question the value of supporting a distant central organization.

• 
• SOURCE: Salt Lake Tribune
  5/19/2020
  

  Analysis: Al Mohler, Southern Baptist Leader, Says He Was ‘Stupid’ To Defend Slavery

  In December 2018, Albert Mohler, longtime president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, released a report detailing and denouncing the school’s legacy of supporting slavery and segregation. However, evidence suggests both the denomination's and Mohler's personal reckoning have been incomplete.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  5/13/2020
  

  A Mystery at Oxford

  A well-funded effort by American evangelical Christians to identify archaeological evidence for the New Testament is at the center of a scandal. 

• 
• SOURCE: Religion News Service
  5/9/2020
  

  Mormon Women are Finding — and Using — Their Voices. Are Men in the Church Listening?

  by Jana Riess

  A new collection of essays should spark consideration of long struggles by Mormon women to claim and exercise influence in the faith. The author fears that it won't. 

• 
• 5/10/2020
  

  COVID-19 and the White Horse Prophecy: The Theology of Ammon Bundy

  by Betsy Gaines Quammen

  In a country with segments of people who deny science, act on revelation, see regular events as either conspiratorial or supernatural, COVID-19 offers a platform for misinformation and agitation.

• 
• SOURCE: Contingent
  4/25/2020
  

  Queen of Heaven, Empress of Hell

  by Vanessa R. Corcoran

  Contemporary depictions of Mary tend to be gentle in their holiness, but Christians centuries ago envisioned her as a powerful agent who fought for their salvation.