Category: Religion

  • The Rise of Antisemitism in the United States

    The Rise of Antisemitism in the United States

    Star of David

    “McMinn County Board of Education members claim they banned “Maus” due to “rough, objectionable language” and a depiction of nudity. But when officials start making it harder for students to learn about injustices like antisemitism, objections about language and sex are almost always just an authoritarian excuse to sanitize history, further marginalize already oppressed populations, and ultimately seize power at any cost.”

    References:

  • A Camel Through the Eye of a Needle

    Bible Translators Got It Wrong

    In Aramaic, the word for “camel” (גמלא) is spelled identically to the word for “rope” (גמלא).

    When Jesus spoke to the fishermen, they knew exactly what he meant.

    Then, of course, there are many other translations. Oh my, what to believe.

    References:

  • Right-wing Christian Lawmakers are to Blame

    “Yet it is right-wing Christian lawmakers who are to blame for letting the violence continue, along with the right-wing pastors and televangelists who prop them up. Taking God’s name in vain doesn’t look like screaming “goddammit” when a child dies. It looks like Mitch McConnell, Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and their allies continually twisting the Gospel and abusing God’s name to seize power while hypocritically raking in the NRA cash and blocking new gun safety laws. Their “pro-life” hands drip with blood.” 1

  • The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy

    By Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry

    The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy
    Available from Amazon.com

    Most Americans were shocked by the violence they witnessed at the nation’s Capital on January 6th, 2021. And many were bewildered by the images displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; “Jesus saves” and “Don’t Tread on Me;” Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus’ name after storming the Senate chamber. Where some saw a confusing jumble, Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry saw a familiar ideology: white Christian nationalism.

    In this short primer, Gorski and Perry explain what white Christian nationalism is and is not; when it first emerged and how it has changed; where it’s headed and why it threatens democracy. Tracing the development of this ideology over the course of three centuries―and especially its influence over the last three decades―they show how, throughout American history, white Christian nationalism has animated the oppression, exclusion, and even extermination of minority groups while securing privilege for white Protestants. It enables white Christian Americans to demand “sacrifice” from others in the name of religion and nation, while defending their “rights” in the names of “liberty” and “property.”

    White Christian nationalism motivates the anti-democratic, authoritarian, and violent impulses on display in our current political moment. The future of American democracy, Gorski and Perry argue, will depend on whether a broad spectrum of Americans―stretching from democratic socialists to classical liberals―can unite in a popular front to combat the threat to liberal democracy posed by white Christian nationalism.

  • Religious Liberty is at Stake

    The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), the United Church of Christ and BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty) File Brief

    Prayer

    Read the Brief (PDF)

    The Issue: A public high school coach demands the right to lead players and others in prayer on the field following games before his official duties have concluded. 2

    The Position: Protecting religious freedom in the public schools means ensuring that students can express their religion in ways that do not interfere with education and that public school employees in their official capacity do not advance or denigrate religion. 3

    High school football coach Joseph Kennedy, who refused to stop holding post-game prayers on the field and later sued the Bremerton, Wash., school district. Kennedy claims his 50-yard line prayers were private prayers protected by the First Amendment. 4