Category Archives: Religion

Mary Valle,Male Gods and Massive Media: Religion Runs Free on the Internet read
Michael Sean Winters, Douthat’s Francis book is poorly sourced, inadequate journalism read
7 in 10 young people in the UK are non-religious, new research finds read
Randall Balmer, Billy Graham exemplified what evangelical Christianity could be — and too often was not “Over the course of a public career that lasted more than half a century, no one has credibly charged Graham with scandal.” read
The End of White Christian America: A Conversation with E.J. Dionne and Robert P. Jones (1h 44m) watch
Dalia Fahmy, Christian women in the U.S. are more religious than their male counterparts read
Martin E. Marty, Mormon Moves read
Peter Harrison, ‘I believe because it is absurd’: Christianity’s first meme read
Peter Harrison,, ‘I believe because it is absurd’: Christianity’s first meme “Thereafter, [Voltaire] ‘I believe because it is absurd’ became the standard form of the credo, and it was increasingly applied indiscriminately to all religious belief.” read
Carol Kuruvilla, Researchers Discover Common Thread Between Evangelicals Who Voted For Trump read
Mark Karlin int. Khaled A. Beydoun, Islamophobia Is Structured Into the State read
Ed Kilgore, Evangelicals Have Displaced Catholics As the Anti-Abortion Movement’s Base read
Dalia Fahmy, Key findings about Americans’ belief in God (90% but only 56%in the Biblical God) read
Jared Gilmour, Government vs. God? People are less religious when government is bigger, research says read
Michael Stone, Domestic White Christian Terrorists Convicted In Plot To Bomb Mosque read
newsletters.christianitytoday.com One of this year’s most talked-about books is Why Liberalism Failed, by the political scientist Patrick Deneen. read
Amy Proulx, Templeton grants read
Julie Zauzmer, The complicated history of ‘In God We Trust’ and other examples Trump gives of American religion read
Martin E. Marty, Our Latino Neighbors read
David Roach, Jesus, Take the Control Wheel: Southwest Pilot Saw Flying as Ministry read
Taylor Berglund and Jessilyn Justice, Banning Liebscher: Why Bill Johnson Didn’t Immediately Shut Down Grave Sucking read

AIG, In-Depth Apologetics Training “During the two-hour event, Ken Ham will give a keynote talk before you hear from a panel of experts for an in-depth discussion of science, genetics, astronomy, and the gospel” watch
Kyle Mantyla, Right-Wing Pastor Says Melania Trump Ordered White House To Be ‘Completely Exorcised’ Before Moving In read
Becky Garrison, The National Rubber Stamp for Theocracy Breakfast read
Bradford Richardson Atheists slam Trump for referencing only Christianity at prayer breakfast read
Kelly Caminero, A Day of Worship at the Church of Oprah: ‘It’s Gonna Be All Right!’ read
Sarah K. Burris , Can Religion Explain Why Americans Are So Easily Duped by Fake News? (Kurt Andersen) read
President Trump Delivers Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast watch
Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Marty, Teacher “Our job is to help them learn to be precise and thoughtful when they think and talk about religion stuff. As teachers at a public university, though, we also have an obligation to justify the use of publicfunds to pay us. We must be punctilious in our research and teaching but we must be able to translate what we do—to the legislature and to the people.” read
Take Harvard’s Introductory Course on Buddhism, One of Five World Religions Classes Offered Free Online “The approach of these courses is summed up by Religious Literacy Project Director Diane L. Moore in a document called “Our Method.” Religious scholars, she writes, recognize “the validity of normative theological assertions without equating them with universal truths about the tradition itself.” One can study religions with a critical, yet charitable, eye, allowing them to speak for themselves while remaining skeptical of their claims, and while acknowledging their “full range of agency from the heinous to the heroic.” In his introductory video lectures, Professor Hallisey admits this isn’t always easy.” read
John Lingan, Salvation for Civilians read
David Masci, 5 facts about the religious lives of African Americans read
Bboo Patel on his relationship to Martin Marty read
Paula Jacobs, Live-Streaming Brings Synagogue Services Into People’s Homes read
Tom Bissell, Why Did Christianity Prevail? rev. Bart Ehrman’s new book read
Jessilyn Justice, Largest Religious Facebook Page in the World Devoted to Genesis 12:3
read
Race, not abortion, was the founding issue of the religious right read
Michael Shermer, Heavens on Earth “For millennia, religions have concocted numerous manifestations of heaven and the afterlife, and though no one has ever returned from such a place to report what it is really like—or that it even exists—today science and technology are being used to try to make it happen in our lifetime. From radical life extension to cryonic suspension to mind uploading, Shermer considers how realistic these attempts are from a proper skeptical perspective.” read
Julie Zauzmer, The complicated history of ‘In God We Trust’ and other examples Trump gives of American religion read
Isabel Fattal, How Should Atheism Be Taught? read
Dan Collins, In Memory of Steven Collins (Buddhist studies progesor at Univ. of Chicago) read
Rebecca Leber, Scott Pruitt Is Gutting the EPA Because He Thinks It’s God’s Plan read
Charles P. Pierce, Billy Graham Was a Giant in American Political Life “Given the fact that we are now left with his inexcusable wing nut son, Franklin, I’m not inclined to look too harshly on Billy Graham’s career. It can always get worse, and has.” read
Religious Literacy: Traditions and Scriptures (Harvard’s new online free courses) read
Templeton, Possibilities: Making the Case for Critical Realism // The Psychology of Purpose // Scientists in Synagogues read
Laurie Goodstein, Billy Graham Warned Against Embracing a President. His Son Has Gone Another Way read
Griffin Paul Jackson, Jerusalem Christians Unite … to Close Church of the Holy Sepulcher read
Martin E. Marty, Cultural Disintegration , Narty draws on Tillich to anticipate this new term. read
Jessilyn Justice, Did Benny Hinn Just Renounce the Prosperity Gospel? read
Fred Reed, Kids: Then and Now (remembering the 50s and 60s) read
Dominionists Head To Trump’s DC Hotel To Bring ‘Heaven’s Rule’ To America read
Susan M. Shaw, Is Patriarchy the Religion of the Planet? read

Landon Schnabel and Sean Bock, The Persistent and Exceptional Intensity of American Religion: A Response to Recent Research “If it is primarily moderate religionists and those with loose ties to their religions driv- ing the decline in average American religiosity, then we may be seeing more of a polarization of religion than a pattern consistent with the secularization thesis.” read
Hemant Mehta, What’s the Main Source of Global Conflict? Survey Says: “Religious Beliefs” read
Ron Cantor, Is Replacement Theology a Dangerously Demonic Deception? read
Ariel Dorfman, The Guilty Soul of Pope Francis “Did the pope not understand that this was a chance to redeem himself for not having been a Good Samaritan in Argentina?” read
Martin E. Marty, Tales of the Religious and the Secular read
Brett Colasacco, How I Failed J. Z. Smith read
Erasmus, An unusual priest’s call for liberty (Father Sergei Ovsyannikov, the long-standing pastor of a flourishing Russian community in Amsterdam.) read
Erasmus, The case of Bishop George Bell (Pedophile??) read
Erasmus, Witch trials in the context of the Reformation read
Frederick Clarkson Trump and Right “Hijacking” Religious Freedom read
Jonathan Kozol, Inequality, “Virtually Total Segregation” in Schools Breeding Rage (a must new book) read
Oxford Academic, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion read
Ted A Smith, rev. American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present. By Philip Gorski read
Oxford Academic, Is Chinese Culture Dualist? An Answer to Edward Slingerland from a Medical Philosophical Viewpoint read
Transcendental Deception: Behind the TM curtain “Mindfulness is becoming increasingly popular It is secular and rooted in scientific research, widely practiced in schools and in the workplace. But all meditation is not created equal. “ read
Heidi Schlumpf, Time to rehabilitate Teilhard de Chardin? read
Martin E. Marty, Pope Francis Fallible? “I am going to continue to favor him in his pontificate, crossing my fingers while I give him the benefit of the doubt. We’ll await more explanation from him, who remains a hero to so many in a time when heroes and exemplars are few. read
Philip Nobile, God Awful Questions for Christianity that Are Apparently Unfit to Be Addressed in the New York Times read
Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique read
Tom Jacobs, The Internet May Be Reducing Religious Rigidity read
New HHS Division Distorts Religious Freedom to Justify Discrimination, Privilege Conservative Religion read
ew book, Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique. read
Tom Bartlett , What’s So Dangerous About Jordan Peterson?
Not long ago, he was an obscure psychology professor. Now he leads a flock of die-hard disciples. read
Joseph Epstein, Jews and Their Jokes read
FFRF, The (further) rise of Christian nationalism by Michelle Goldberg read
Rand Hummel, Is the Bible at Home in Your Family? read
Mike Sharp, Islam will be the second-biggest U.S. religion by 2040 read
Javier Corrales, A Perfect Marriage: Evangelicals and Conservatives in Latin America “Evangelicals today account for almost 20 percent of the population in Latin America.” read
Todd A. Salzman, Michael G. Lawler, The scandal may be in not holding funerals for gay spouses, theologians say read
Ann Gauger, An Overview of Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical and Theological Critique (16m) listen
Jesse Bernstein, Read Martin Luther King Jr.’s Speech On Soviet Jewry read
Martin E. Marty, Moody and Moody read
Shawn A. Akers, Bama Player Says Speaking In Tongues Helped Him Win the Game read
Philip Nobile, God Awful Questions for Christianity that Are Apparently Unfit to Be Addressed in the New York Times read
Adelle M. Banks, Evangelical chaplain’s suspension intensifies denomination’s gay marriage debate read
Laura Marsh, The Coping Economy (meditating) read
Martin E. Marty, Biblical Translation Leads to Tussles, Clashes read
Amit Gvaryahu, Lucky the Jews Didn’t Understand What Mike Pence Was Really Saying “Still, it takes a special kind of hutzpah to stand in front of a Jewish audience and explain their own tradition to them using language and texts that historically have rendered actual Jews pathologically redundant to the world, and still today cast us as a tool for the salvation of Christians.” read
Morgan Strong’, How Christian Zionists Got Their Man Into The White House read
Paul Craig Roberts, Trump’s Foreign Policy Is In Service To Israel read
Trey Bundy, New documents about Jehovah’s Witnesses’ sex abuse begin to leak out read
Judith Weisenfeld,, New World A-Coming: How Black Religion Helped Shape Racial Identity
Deborah Jian Lee, Christians of Color Are Rejecting “Colonial Christianity” and Reclaiming Ancestral Spiritualities read
Sammy Feldblum, Elaine Howard Ecklund Wants to Dispel Myths Surrounding Religious Resistance to Science read

catherine yronwode, Hoodoo in Theory and Practice read
Krish Kandiah, The God of the Bible is Noy hat You Thought He Was read
Mormons perform baptisms on Holocaust victims read
Tomasz Frymorgen, The Church of Sweden is giving God an update read
onbeing.org, David Steindl-Rast — Anatomy of Gratitude read
Michael Kulikowski, Christians were strangers “The Roman empire became Christian during the fourth century CE. At the century’s start, Christians were – at most – a substantial minority of the population.” read
Renuka Sornarajah, , THE DARKENING AGE – the Christian Destruction of the Classical World read
Jessilyn Justice, D.C. Area Pastor, Wife Convicted of Embezzling $2 Million From the Poor (Terry Wayne Millender) read
Tony Cartalucci, Western Media Consumed by Myanmar Monster of Own Creation “Warnings that Suu Kyi’s political movement was nothing more than a foreign-funded attempt to co-opt the people and resources of the Southeast Asian state of Myanmar – a former colony of the British Empire still referred to widely in the West by its colonial nomenclature, “Burma” – were dismissed as mere conspiracy theories……..Ironically – while Marshall, the rest of Reuters, and the Western media wring their hands over Suu Kyi’s “sudden” change of heart, in neighboring Thailand these same people are attempting to return Thaksin Shinawatra and his political allies to power in the name of “democracy” – a scenario that will turn out equally as bad for Thailand as Suu Kyi has for Myanmar.” read
Maria Popova, The Human Mosaic of Beauty and Madness: Young Alan Watts on Inner Sanity Amid Outer Chaos read
Bart Ehrman (intro Dan Barker) on Bible (59m) watch
Kerry Mitchell, A Trip to the John Muir Trail (spirituality in nature) read
Peter Wehner, How Can I Possibly Believe That Faith Is Better Than Doubt? “To emphasize faith is not to cast out doubt. In fact, it is precisely to take doubt seriously, but also to understand the doubter more completely — not just as a reasoning mind but as a full person, possessed of a divine spark that lets us see, now and then, right through the walls we have built between faith and reason.“ read
Peter Harrison,Why religion is not going away and science will not destroy it read
Haleigh Atwood, Dalai Lama launches iPhone app to share news and teachings read
Carlos Eire, Slaying the Dragon of the Dark Ages (books on Luther) read
Ann Gauger, My Journey to Intelligent Design read
Rachel Vogelstein, Let Women Work “Yet legal barriers to female economic enfranchisement persist in every region of the world, in both developed and developing economies. According to the World Bank, women face gender-based job restrictions in 155 countries, including limitations on property ownership, spousal consent requirements for employment, and laws that prevent them from signing contracts or accessing credit. “ read
Anne Grant, I Always Knew Santa Was Make-Believe: A Retired Pastor on Losing Her Faith read
Nicholas Kristof, Cardinal Tobin, Am I a Christian? read
Maria Popova, The Yin-Yang of Fortune and Misfortune: Alan Watts on the Art of Learning Not to Think in Terms of Gain and Loss read
Tim Rymel, Has Evangelical Christianity Become Sociopathic? “The evangelical Christian message is loud and clear. They care for no one but themselves. Their devotion is to the version of Christianity they have created, which calls for ruthless abandonment of immigrants, women, children – even their own – and anyone else who doesn’t fall inline with their message. Social justice, which is mentioned in Bible verses over two thousand times, has been replaced with hardline political ideology. Principle over people. Indifference over involvement. Judgment over generosity.” read

Gregory A. Smith. Views of transgender issues divide along religious lines read
Nicholas Gibson (Templeton) Possibilities: How prayer makes a difference // Spiritual poses // The surprising controllability of complex systems read
Kristin Romey, What Archaeology Is Telling Us About the Real Jesus read
Pastors Should Know Who Gives to the Church read
Rachel Waltner Goossen, Historical Justice in an Era of #MeToo: Legacies of John Howard Yoder read
Martin E. Marty, The Relevance of Religious Studies . :So the Bureau put to work an armored vehicle, which devastated the Davidians’ buildings, and followed up by shooting tear gas at the members. Everything that could go wrong, did, and when the incident was over, the FBI had killed 75 members….The University of Pennsylvania’s Steven Weitzman summarized: the “FBI has been a major player, and sometimes a major disrupter in American religious life.” Now he sees some AAR scholars “trying to change the culture ‘for the good of all and the future of religiously motivated dissent’ at a time when” much violence is promoted by people who make religious claims.” read
Mark Galli, Evangelical Christians Are Sick read
Alix Jules, SCOTUS: Prayer OK at Texas School Board Meetings read
Richard V. Reeves. College and the End of Upward Mobility read
Rebecca Klein, Voucher Schools Championed By Betsy DeVos Can Teach Whatever They Want. Turns Out They Teach Lies. read
Institute of Arts and Ideas, Philosophy for our Times. A series of debates on religions. Search and watch watch
Candida Moss, Archaeologists Just Got Closer to Proving the Location of Jesus’ Tomb read
Popular, theatlantic.com, The Consumerist Church of Fitness Classes read
From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians. Links to 1998 series watch
Alix Jules, SCOTUS: Prayer OK at Texas School Board Meetings read
Libby Anne, What Women Lost in the Protestant Reformation read
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, The Coming Islamic Culture War read
Jake Johnson, ‘Absolutely Shocking’: Federal Prosecutors Use Project Veritas Video in Case Against J20 Protesters read
Jason Horowitz, ‘I Ask Forgiveness,’ Pope Francis Tells Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh read
Crain Hamilton’s evolutionary spirituality exercises listen
by Jamie Manson, Interfaith panel describes women’s struggle for equality in religious traditions read
Martin E. Marty,The Hearts of Millennials read
The Editorial Board, Hate Smears India’s Symbol of Love, the Taj Mahal read
Peter Montgomery, Leader Of Trump Cabinet Bible Studies Aggressively Expanding Right-Wing Proselytizing To Government Officials read
Noor Al-Sibai, Trump cabinet Bible study leader has a new plan to aggressively expand ‘Christianizing’ of government officials read
“Substantive and Significant : ” PWR Praises Climate & Health Declaration from Pontifical Academy of Sciences : Intro from Fr. John Pawlikowski read
Francis Collins, The Language of God (1h 3m) watch
The Boston Declaration Signed by 300 theologians at annual academic meeting of American Academy of Religion, 11/20/2017.. “We declare that following Jesus today means fighting poverty, economic exploitation, racism, sexism, and all forms of oppression from the deepest wells of our faith. ,,,This is a time of heightened racist and patriarchal empire where wealth is concentrated at the top.,,,.We reject the false ideology that peace is achieved through military strength and that violence is the necessary foundation for freedom, safety, or security.
…We reject homophobia and transphobia and all violence against the LGBTQ community.” read
Christianity Today, 11/21/2017. “The best example I know of this second, more enriching kind of revisionism comes Robert Tracy McKenzie, the Wheaton College historian and occasional book reviewer for CT. Back in 2013, McKenzie released The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving God and Learning from History. Baylor University historian Thomas Kidd reviewed the book for CT, calling it “an entertaining retelling of a seminal moment in American history—and a remarkable reflection on how Christians should handle history in general.” read
PRRI, Searching for Spirituality in the U.S.: A New Look at the Spiritual but Not Religious read
Acharya Das: Yoga, Spirituality Enlightenment & God (Pt. 1 0f a course) o
Pedram Shojai, the Urban Monk watch well.org watch
Why Invent the Jesus? • Richard Carrier Ph.D. watch
Devorah Baum, We Are All Jew-ish Now read
Martin E. Marty, Football Religion read
John D. Carlson, Losing Our Civil Religion read
Thomas Joiner, How “Mindfulness” Lost Its Mind read
Patricia Miller, The Rise of the Catholic Cyber-Bullies read
Daniel Schultz, CA Sen. Kamala Harris To Make A Very Interesting Church Appearance read
Michael Jerryson, Shocked by Aung San Suu Kyi’s Insensitivity to Ethnic Cleansing? Don’t Be. “While it might seem strange for a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate to turn a blind eye to religious and ethnic cleansing, it is not unique. In my forthcoming book If You Meet the Buddha on the Road: Buddhism, Politics, and Violence, I explore this phenomenon. One of the causes for Aung San Suu Kyi’s blindness to the current violence is her fetishist disavowal of the Rohingya. In his book Violence, Slavoj Žižek argues that people have a tendency to overlook a particular group or community in our ethical systems. It is a conscious effort—so persistent it acts as a fetish—to avoid reflection and consideration. Everyone has blinders within their ethical index.” read
Patricia Miller, Steve Bannon and the Conservative “Cafeteria Catholics” “So apparently Paul Ryan goes to the same cafeteria as Steve Bannon, where large helpings of words like subsidiarity and prudential judgment allow them to ignore Catholic teaching, just as sure as someone who sits in mass every week but uses the Pill. But in their case, it’s not a matter of an individual “sin” that carries little social consequence but of consequential actions that harm whole societies.” read
Peter Montgomery, Australian Church Nixes Straight Couple’s Wedding Over Their Marriage Equality Support; and More in Global LGBT Recap read
Daniel Schultz, Rev. Rob Lee Lost Congregation For His Anti-Racism Speech: Here’s Why He Should Have Packed His Bags First read
John Wigger, More Than Big Hair and Money: Jim, Tammy Faye and the Media “Holy Wars” of the 80s “I was fascinated by how fast PTL grew and how quickly it fell apart. What I really wanted to know was how PTL’s rise and fall were connected. How does deep religious devotion become so entwined with money, sex, and celebrity on a Hollywood scale?….The sex and financial shenanigans were only interesting because of the size of PTL’s cultural footprint.’ read
Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater, Victorian Occultism and the Art of Synesthesia read
Michael Safi, India court bans Islamic instant divorce in huge win for women’s rights read
Cheri Maples, A Buddhist Cop’s Approach to Justice read
John Fea, Here are some of the truths the Trump presidency has revealed about American Christianity. “they emerged on the political scene with force in the 1980s in response to a number of changes taking place in American society related to sexual ethics, race, religion in schools, and demographic changes in society.Evangelicals have always been active in American political life, but I think it’s fair to say that the evangelical impact on GOP politics has been strongest in the last fifty years.,,,,Evangelicals have always been active in American political life, but I think it’s fair to say that the evangelical impact on GOP politics has been strongest in the last fifty years.” read
Lydia Wheeler, Supreme Court rules churches are eligible for some public funds read
Daniel Schultz, The Clenched Fist of Truthiness: Why Religion Won’t Fix This. NRA read
Nathan, Ambedkar on Hinduism read
Nathan, Ambedkar on Islam, Partition and Hindu Raj read

NCR Podcast: A conversation on sexuality, gender and the Catholic Church listen
Bret Stetka Where’s the Proof That Mindfulness Meditation Works? read
Appeals Court: Maryland Peace Cross Violates Constitution read
Ed Brayton,, Priest ‘Exorcises’ Hotel Room of Vegas Shooter read
Elizabeth O’Casey, Where there is state religion, there is less freedom read
Eric C. Miller, How America’s Charismatic Christianity Helped Fuel the Fantasyland Presidency of Donald Trump read
Spencer Dew, Dylan Krieger’s “Giving Godhead”: A Bloody Vision of Religion’s Deepest Influence read
Nathan J. Ristuccia, In Search of a Rectification of Names read
Kevin Quealy, Your Rabbi? Probably a Democrat. Your Baptist Pastor? Probably a Republican. Your Priest? Who Knows.Political views of senominations and their leaders “Clergy influence the views of their congregants, but they also represent the communities where they serve…..Instead, religiosity – how often someone attends church, rather than which church a member is a part of – has been a better measure of party affiliation than denomination. (Frequent churchgoers tend to be Republicans.) But the data on pastors suggests denomination may matter more than previously thought..” read
Min Min, Myanmar jails Turkish broadcast journalists for two months read
Joshua J. McElwee, Pope condemns possession of nuclear weapons in shift from church’s acceptance of deterrence read
Rokia Hassanein, Changing The Johnson Amendment Could Shift Billions Of Dollars From Political Campaigns To Churches That Endorse Candidates read
Elise Helgesen Aguilar, House Committee Votes Along Party Lines To Weaken The Johnson Amendment read
Science Daily, Why do we believe in gods? Religious belief ‘not linked to intuition or rational thinking’ read
The Human Truth Foundation read
Vexen Crabtree, Non-Religious Secular Jews (Cultural Judaism “It is important to understand that a great many Jews have little connection to Judaism as a religion. While many Jews want to maintain their Jewish identity, the majority are secular Jews with little interest in the beliefs and practices of Judaism. For example, less than a third of American Jews are members of one of the religious movement into which Judaism is divided.”
“Encyclopedia of New Religions” Christopher Partridge (2004)) read
Jewish Telegraph Agency read
David Briggs, Prayer and anger: Having a divine shoulder to cry on may reduce aggression read
Matthew J. Walton, Religion and Violence in Myanmar read
Behnam Ben Taleblu Kurd Your Enthusiasm read
Abbas Raza, The cancer of Islamist extremism spreads around the world read
Patricia Miller, Why Notre Dame’s Contraception Flip-Flop Undercuts Bishops’ Religious Freedom Claims read
Ed Brayton, Paul Ryan: Prayer Works! read
Pew, read
Stephen Mansfield, After ‘Choosing Donald Trump,’ Is The Evangelical Church In Crisis? read
Pema Chodron – Going to the places that scare you watch
Ellen Langer — Science of Mindlessness and Mindfulness read

Allie Conti, The Fundamentalists Holding Us Back from a Climate Change Solution “PPhilip Schwadel is a sociologist at the University of Nebraska who studies how Americans’ attitudes about religion and politics change from generation to generation. For a study published in April, he reviewed decades of polling data to try and figure out the most likely predictor for thinking that global warming was not a major problem. Schwadel concluded that biblical literalism—or the belief that the Bible is the word of God —is what’s keeping Americans from an agreement to fight climate change.” read
Randall Balmer, Under Trump, evangelicals show their true racist colors “The statistics tell one story: 81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump. The deafening silence from leaders of the religious right in the wake of the neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville, Va., points to an even larger one, which places racism at the very heart of the movement…..What does it tell us when businessmen demonstrate a greater moral resolve than ministers?” read
Jim Winkler, All the President’s Preachers “We refuse to countenance a president who gives quarter to those who sow hate and injustice among the American public. Our congregations will continue to witness to a God who loves everyone regardless of race or creed. We need our evangelical sisters and brothers to join us.” read
Aleksandra Sandstrom, God or the divine is referenced in every state constitution read
Michael Stone,Michael Stone,Catholic Church Claims Child Sex Abuse Victims ‘Consented’ read
Katherine Kelaidis, White Supremacy and Orthodox Christianity: A Dangerous Connection Rears Its Head in Charlottesville read
enna Weissman Joselit, Old Sins Cast Long Shadows: America’s Enduring Fascination with the Ten Commandments read
Antony Alumkal, A New Book Explains How the Christian Right Has Gotten Selective Denial Down to a Science “I coined the term “paranoid science” to refer to pseudoscience movements driven by paranoia. I built on historian Richard Hofstadter’s classic essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” which describes the recurrence of grand conspiracy theories (our whole way of life is under threat). When Christian Right leaders object to some sector of science, they respond by creating a grand conspiracy theory.” read
David Klinghoffer, Canaanite DNA Episode Reveals Limits of Science and of Science Reporting read
Michael Egnor, How Is Purpose Related to Teleology in Nature? read
Mary Magdalene was destined to be the first pope read
Julian Young Arthur Schopenhauer: the first European Buddhist read
Emily McFarlan Miller, Why is sexuality such a big deal for the church? read
templeton.org, Multimedia Journal about Faith, Ethics and Scholarship that Bridges the Gap between Academia and the Public Square. Renovatio read
templeton.org, Religious Competition and Creative Innovation: Los Angeles and Seoul, South Korea read
Caine, White nationalists and religion read
!Mark Koyama, Ideas were not enough. :Finally, the history of how religious freedom came to be is a reminder that commitment to liberal values alone is not enough for liberalism to flourish. It requires a suitable political and economic foundation. “ read
Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater, Victorian Occultism and the Art of Synesthesia read
Possibilities (Templeton) read
Owen Jarus, 7 Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls Revealed read
Manveena Suri and Omar Khan, Indian guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh sentenced to 20 years for rape read
Tara John, What to Know About India’s ‘Guru of Bling’ Whose Rape Conviction Sparked Riots read
Danny R., What Will Happen on September 23, 2017? read
Dina Nayeri, Yearning for the end of the world read
Ruth Jackson and Hanna Weibye, Can reason make room for religion in public life? Schleiermacher’s legacy read
Arthur Green, Restoring Kabbalah to Mainstream Judaism read
Brian D. McLaren, The ‘Alt-Right’ Has Created Alt-Christianity read
The KAIROS Company for Friends of Zion, One of Facebook’s Largest Prayer Groups Honors Numbers 24:9 read
Alexander Burns, Rabbis Protest Trump’s Comments by Boycotting Conference Call “All four Jewish groups — the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism — said they could not participate in interactions with Mr. Trump around the fall holidays.
“We have concluded that President Trump’s statements during and after the tragic events in Charlottesville are so lacking in moral leadership and empathy for the victims of racial and religious hatred that we cannot organize such a call this year,” the statement said.” read
Frederick Starr, How the U.S. Promotes Extremism in the Name of Religious Freedom read
Gregory Cowles, A Science Writer [Robert Wright] Embraces Buddhism as a Path to Enlightenment read
Sean Illing, Why Buddhism is true, Robert Wright on his new book read
John Bowden, Evangelical students returning university diplomas to protest Trump read
Graeme Wood, True Believers “The latest effort to explain this orders-of-magnitude increase in the number of jihadists is Ali Soufan’s Anatomy of Terror.” read
Michael Kulikowski, Christians were strangers “That problem would not have come to have its historic, and tragic, consequences had Constantine’s conversion not rapidly brought much of the imperial population with him.” read
COLD FUSION AND THE END OF SCIENTISM? Ian Hutchinson int. by Ross Douthat read
Dan Colman, 50 Famous Academics & Scientists Talk About God (includes links for another 50 academics and 30 writers) watch
Dan Colman,Neil deGrasse Tyson Lists 8 (Free) Books Every Intelligent Person Should Read read
Rob Boston, The Alt-Right And The Religious Right Stand In Opposition To America’s Tradition Of Religious Freedom read
Blasphemy laws “astonishingly widespread”, says US government report read
Aleksandra Sandstrom, God or the divine is referenced in every state constitution read
Jack Jenkins, Conservative faith leaders stand by Trump despite his defense of white supremacist rally read
Graeme Wood, True Believers read
Liel Leibovitz, Historic Decision Allows Women to Head Israel’s Rabbinic Courts read
Gabriela Geselowitz, Boreh Pri Ha’Ganja: What’s the Proper Blessing to Say Over Weed? read
Jewcy site read
Kyle Mantyla Michele Bachmann To Become Religious Right Ministry’s ‘Pastor To The United Nations’ read
Michael Rezendes, A priest’s son takes his case directly to the Pope read
Michael Rezendes, Children of Catholic priests live with secrets and sorrow read
Possibilities: Spirituality and health // Religious treatments for depression // Global religious futures Templeton project at Harvard) read
Tara Isabella Burton, After Charlottesville, white pastors are asking: are we complicit? read

Steven Klett, Creationists Are Using a Legal Loophole to Avoid Paying Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Taxes on Their Failing Theme Parkread
Bodie Hodge in Answers magazine article compares Bible to Book of Mormon and Koran “Can They Be from God, Too?” read
Spencer Grady-Pawl, Whose Body? The Vatican’s Silly Decree on Gluten-Free read
Jeff Sharlet, The Secret Political Reach Of ‘The Family’ (2009) read
Hemant Mehta, The White House Bible Study Isn’t a Problem (But the Instructor Is) “Ralph Drollinger of Capitol Ministries, is a conservative Christian who has called Catholicism the “world’s largest false religion,” declared homosexuality an “abomination,” and said it’s “sinful” for women with children to serve in Congress.” read
R. Albert Mohler, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism–the New American Religion )2005) read
Sarah K. Burris, Nearly all Cabinet officials attend Bible lessons with right-wing pastor who compares Trump to biblical heroes read
Teddy Wilson, Trump Taps Religious ‘Bully’ Sam Brownback for State Department Spot read
Ruth Graham, Franklin Graham Wants to Be the Next Billy Graham read
Hemant Mehta, The Bible Says Canaanites Were Killed, But New DNA Evidence Suggests Otherwise read
David Briggs, Study: Clergywomen close gender pay gap to 7 cents on the dollar read
Martin E. Marty : Closings. Religious ups and downs in US read
Erik Moshe, What the Trump Presidency Reveals About American Christianity and Evangelicalism read
Thich Nhat Hanh, Walking In the Now read
Sunnivie Brydum and Joshua Lazard, The Southern Baptists’ “All Lives Matter” Approach to Racial Reconciliation Is Spiritual Malpractice read
Eli Lieberman, “Rabba?” The Orthodox Union Grapples with the Possibility of Female Rabbis read
Anver Emon, From the Founders to Trump: The legalities of “Muslims” read
Udi Greenberg, From Christ to Confucius read
Reza Aslan’s TV show, cr oyocized by social scientists read
David Frankfurter, Apologia pro Reza: Why I like Believer read
Elizabeth Bruenig, The Gospel of Self (Pat Robertson) read
Edward Simon, Speaking in Tongues of Fire read
Meredith Thompson, Oppressive Atheism: In China, Religion Can Be a Form of Activism read
John Hagee Says End-Times ‘Fuse Is Lit, Every Prophetic Player Is on Stage’ read
Richard Smoley , Believers Keep the Faith Despite Biblical Distortions read
Jeff Sharlet on “The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power”
read
Chris Hedges, Trump and the Christian Fascists read
Ravi Zacharias on Veritas Forum on problem of suffering listen
A.C. Thompson, Sikhs in America: A History of Hate read
Kyle Mantyla, Michele Bachmann: Hate Crimes Hotline Is A Violation Of The Separation Of Church And State read
Peter Montgomery, OTUS Shield: Trump’s Dominionist Prayer Warriors and the ‘Prophetic Order of the United States’ read
Sunnivie Brydum, It’s Not About Cake: Anti-Gay Vendors Want a Constitutional Right to Discriminate read
Daniel Schultz, Jesus Said Punch Up, Not Down: Why William Barber’s Attack on the Religious Right May Not Be What It Seems read
Chris Hedges, Trump and the Christian Fascists read
JJ Foster, Insane Things You Didn’t Know About The Amish read
Eliott C. McLaughlin, Where faith, violence collide read
David Briggs, Not just a joke: Studies find religious humor can break through prejudice, build social ties read
Martin Marty, Getting Religion read
Matthew Sitman, Against Moral Austerity: On the Need for a Christian Left read
Frank Newport, More U.S. Protestants Have No Specific Denominational Identity read
John Fea, Trump threatens to change the course of American Christianity read
Christine Toomey, Teachings from Tibetan Buddhism: On Course for Compassion read
Peter Laarman, The Bad Religion at the Heart of GOP Healthcare Policy read

Robert P. Jones, Trump Can’t Reverse the Decline of White Christian America read
Jerry Zolten, When gospel sermons came on the phonograph. Gospels, spirituaks. read
Mark Juergensmeyer, Peter Berger, Sociology’s Defender of God (1929-2017) read
Emily Esfahani Smith, What a ‘Transcendent Experience’ Really Means read
Martin E. Marty, The Precarious Vision of Peter Berger read
Joseph Berger, Peter Berger, Theologian Who Fought ‘God Is Dead’ Movement, Dies at 88 read
Matthew Bulger, Master of None Masters Non-Confrontational Religious Disaffiliation “Comedian Aziz Ansari’s semi-autobiographical Netflix series” read
Spencer Grady-Pawl, Linking Religion and Teen Pregnancy: There’s a Map for That read
Hemant Mehta, A Record 58% of People in Scotland Have No Religious Affiliation read
Fundamentalism, racism, fear and propaganda: An insider explains why rural, Christian white America will never change read
Is America a Christian Nation? Majority of Americans Don’t Think So read
Links to recent postings on Sightings read
Annette Gordon-Reed, Thomas Jefferson’s Bible Teaching read
Peter Laarman, American Civil Religion is Dead, Long Live
American Civil Religion ““Rack and ruin of our gangster death”? That describes us, all right. But so does “we, the people” who can still redeem it. Despair is not an option.” read
Joshua Berlinger, Australians ditch religion at rapid rate, becoming more diverse read
Rowaida Abdelaziz, Google Search Is Doing Irreparable Harm To Muslims read
Daniel Schultz, The Democrats’ Real Religion Problem, And All Of Ours “Democrats don’t speak the language of faith; it’s that faith—or the lack thereof—reflect coherent, competing worldviews. Should America be a racially, religiously, and sexually pluralistic society? Or should it be run by and for the benefit of white Christians with “traditional” sexual mores?” read
Sam Littlefair, Two Buddhist Practices for Times of Tragedy read
Dallas Theological Seminary completes first academic year of school-wide sexual abuse awareness training read
John Williams, Tell Us 5 Things About Your Book: ‘The Mind of God’ “A lot of the book is about that part of our brain that connects us to our deeper, spiritual underpinnings. It’s not our rational brain; it’s our narrative brain.” read
Jessilyn Justice, Urgent Call to Prayer: Thousands of Witches Casting Spells Against Trump read
Martin E. Marty, Pastors and Political Choicec read
Hemant Mehta, Israeli Court: Airline Can’t Ask Women To Switch Seats For Ultra-Orthodox Men read
Krishnamurti read
Hemant Mehta, Christian Pastor Explains How to Properly Sex Up Your Woman read
Alex Mayyasi, Of money and morals (usury in history) read
Spencer Dew, Martyrdom, Racist Violence, and the Role of Art : Kara Walker’s Religious Turn read
Courtney Wilder, Disability Theology and the Healthcare Debate read
Casey Coates Danson, WORLD-FAMOUS PHYSICIST DROPS BOMBSHELL “GOD” DISCOVERY ….. ATHEISTS WILL NOT LIKE THIS (Michio Kaku) read
Peter Montgomerym Orthodox TV Channel Offers Gays One-Way Ticket Out of Russia; And More in Global LGBT Recap read
Stephanie Savage, Separationism: The Battle of Our Founding Fathe
rs is Our Fight Too read
Gina Rushton, “No Religion” Is Now Australia’s Number One Religion read
Siddharth Sreenivas, Is Overt Display Of Religion Tearing The Fabric Of Indian Society? read
David Frankfurter, Apologia pro Reza: Why I like Believer read
Daniel K. Williams, The Democrats’ Religion Problem read
Martin Sheen, Spirituality of Imagination read
Barna, 2017 Bible-Minded Cities read
Libby Anne, Young Earth Creationism Is Evolving read
templeton.org, BioLogos Public Engagement: Inviting the Church and the World to See the Harmony between Science and Biblical Faith read
Matt Agorist, Church of England Admits it ‘Colluded’ to Cover-Up Decades of Child Rap read
Maher Chmaytelli and Marius Bosch, ISIS blows up historic Mosul mosque where it declared ‘caliphate’ read
Patricia Miller, GOP “Stealthcare” Bill Reveals Catholic Bishops’ Priorities read
Brittany Page, The Three Shades of Atheism How Atheists Differ in Their Views on God read
Kevin Quealy, Your Rabbi? Probably a Democrat. Your Baptist Pastor? Probably a Republican. Your Priest? Who Knows. read
Emma Green, A Conservative Christian Battle Over Gender read

Jerry Zolten, When gospel sermons came on the phonograph read
Jonathan Evans, Unlike their Central and Eastern European neighbors, most Czechs don’t believe in God “Belief in God is widespread across the region, with a median of 86% across the 18 countries surveyed expressing this belief, including 86% in neighboring Poland and 59% in Hungary. And when it comes to religious identity, the only surveyed country besides the Czech Republic where more than a quarter of people are unaffiliated is Estonia (45%).” read
Daniel Schultz, Maybe Instead of Solidarity, The Religious Left Should Try Being Indivisible read
Timothy Gutmann, The “Religion” Episode: Aziz Ansari and the Cultural Politics of Muslim Self-Representation read
Andrea Jain, Can yoga be Christian? “Christian yoga, in fact, is now a growing part of the yoga industry. The question then becomes – is this real yoga?” read
Michael Uhl, Guns and Religion in a Small Town on Memorial Day read
Owen Jarus, 25 Cultures That Practiced Human Sacrifice (slides) read
Eric Grundhauser, Are You There God? I’d Like to Sue You read
Stephen Greenblatt, How St. Augustine Invented Sex read
Ahmad Al-Sarraf, ‘Learn from thy enemy’ – ‘Shun racism, sectarianism’ read
Sunnivie Brydum, Southern Baptist Convention Kicks Out Gay Attendees, Waffles on White Supremacists read
Jordan Denari Duffner,New Study: Islamophobia Common in Catholic Media read
David G. McAfee, Study Shows Religion May Be Contributing to Unprecedented Political Divide read
Rachel Rinaldo, How a growing number of Muslim women clerics are challenging traditional narratives read
templeton.org, Foundational Questions in Cosmology read
Hemant Mehta, More Than Half of Canadians Say Religion is Harmful
Tara Isabella Burton, What is a cult? read
Michael Stone, Creationist Ken Ham Blames Atheists For Ark Park Failure read
John Pavlovitz, The Christians Making Atheists read
Haroon Moghul, No, CNN, Saudi Arabia and Iran Have Not Been Fighting For “1,000 Years” read
Patricia Miller, Pence’s Prayer Breakfast Appearance Underscores Fractured American Catholicism read
Succession leads to Hasidic Jewish success read
“Crossroads, recently named the fastest growing church in America [in Cincinnati], has also made a name for itself for its entrepreneurial ministry that is closely integrated with the startup culture of Silicon Valley.” read
Will Storr, ‘It was quasi-religious’: the great self-esteem con [John Vasconcellos] read
Sunnivie Brydum, Scott Lively’s Crimes Against Humanity Aren’t Conservative Christian Outliers read
Stephanie Pappas, 8 Ways Religion Impacts Your Life read
Stephanie Pappas, Religious Mysteries: 8 Alleged Relics of Jesus read
Natalie Wolchover,, Proof of Jesus Christ? 7 Pieces of Evidence Debated read
Brent Landau, The Case for Christ: What’s the evidence for the resurrection? read
Arielle Levites, , Can the “Spiritual Left” Make the Change They Wish to See? read
Lawsuit Alleges Catholic Church Stole Babies through Forced Adoption to Sell Them for Profit read
Barna, Meet the “Spiritual but Not Religious” read
Brent Landau, The Case for Christ: What’s the evidence for the resurrection? “have very little doubt that some of Jesus’ followers believed that they had seen him alive after his death. Yet the world is full of such extraordinary claims, and “The Case for Christ” has provided, in my evaluation, no truly compelling evidence to prove the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection.” read

Network for Church Monitoring, Church and State read
Will Carless, An ancient Nordic religion is inspiring white supremacist terror read
Anita Little, A Progressive Christian Conference With an All-White Lineup: What Could Go Wrong read
‘Ignore female singers!’ Chief rabbi tells Israeli soldiers to bury their faces in Torah read
Kyle Mantyla, Leading Right-Wing Christian Figure Calls for a ‘More Violent Christianity’ read
Eric C. Miller, The Origin Story of the Evangelical Mindset: A Conversation with Frances FitzGerald “For anyone who thought they could safely ignore the role of white evangelicals in American politics, Trump’s victory offered an ice-bucket of a wake-up call. Frances FitzGerald’s newest book, The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America, is this renowned journalist’s tour of the history of the movement from the 18th century to the present.” read
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, How the Muslim World Was Invented read
Naomi Haynes, Complicating the Prosperity Gospel Story: A Microeconomics of Pentecostalism, International Edition read
Jesse Singal, How the Self-Esteem Craze Took Over America read
Daniel Cox, Don’t Bet On The Emergence Of A ‘Religious Left’ read
Abigail Geiger, 5 facts on how Americans view the Bible and other religious texts read
Michael Lipka, Religious restrictions vary significantly in the world’s most populous countries “Restrictions against religious groups in the world’s 25 most populous countries — where more than 5 billion of the globe’s roughly 7.5 billion people live — vary greatly, from some of the lowest in the world (Brazil and Japan) to among the very highest (Russia and Egypt).” read
Garry Wills rev. Frances FitzGerald’s new book. “Where Evangelicals Came From” “Given these apocalyptic developments in the time between FitzGerald’s finishing her book and its publication, there is a certain wry poignancy to her final pages. She drops hints (hopes?) that the cycle of periodic revivals may have finally exhausted itself. She says that the evangelicals’ numbers are declining, that they no longer have national leaders or organization. Millennials, “the largest of all living generations,” are not drawn to their preachers. Does that mean that we may not have to ask, in the future, “Where did these people come from”?
Not hardly.” read
prri, Most Believe Science in Conflict with Religion—Except Their Own Religious Beliefs read
Benjamin Park, Why it’s time for the Mormon Church to revisit its diverse past read
Valerie Tarico and David Fitzgerald, Evidence for Jesus is weaker than you might think read
Subhash Gatade, Talk Bhima or Bhim, Walk Manu read
Art Swift, Majority in US Still Say Religion Can Answer Most Problems (Gallup data) read
Martin E. Marty, The Necessity of Bridge-Building read
Christian Institute, Another Major Denomination Falls Into Abominable Teachings read
Tara Isabella Burton, What is a cult? read
David Barton Doesn’t Understand That The Declaration Of Independence And The Constitution Are Two Very Different Documents read
Sean Gregory, The Real Reason Muhammad Ali Converted to Islam read
PZ Myers, Ken Ham, black person who is a pale shade of beige read
Marcia Angell, The Abortion Battlefield read
Religion & Culture Forum, Martin Marty Center at Univ. of Chicago Divinity School watch

The Veritas Forum (Harvard) watch
Sarah K. Burris, Evangelicals Are Leaving Their Churches Over Donald Trump read
How to Create a Cult read
Theo Anderson, How Evangelicals Revolutionized U.S. Politics read
Molly Worthen, The Evangelical Roots of Our Post-Truth Society read
Meredith J C Warren, Was Jesus really nailed to the cross? read
David Briggs, Faith and health: When TV goes low in depicting religion, marginal believers may suffer most read
Valerie Tarico, What if Jesus Never Existed? An Interview with History Writer David Fitzgerald read
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert discuss whether god exists (5m) watch
Daniel Schultz, Alabama Senate Considers Giving Church Its Own Police Force; Irony Reportedly Dead read
Sunnivie Brydum, North Carolina Just Tried to Ban Marriage Equality Because “Almighty God” Said So read
Valerie Tarico & David Fitzgerald, Evidence for Jesus is Weaker than You Might Think read
Christian Belief Through the Lens of Cognitive Science read
Eric Sotnak, Christianity without Belief in the Resurrection? read
Barna, Jesus: Man, Myth or God? read
Valerie Tarico, History writer: Jesus probably never existed — here’s why Christianity emerged anyway (David Fitzgerald) read
Global Restrictions on Religion Rise Modestly in 2015, Reversing Downward Trend read