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American Fascists
Your fundamentalist grandmother is unwittingly abetting a tyrannical conspiracy....
Comic-book violence
The famous battle of Thermopylae, which took place in 480 BC between a massive Persian force led by the King Xerxes and a small band of Greeks headed by 300 Spartans and led by the popular King Leo...
Blogging toward Sunday
In this new series, authors offer reflections on the Sunday lectionary texts. Feel free to join the discussion by adding your thoughts....
Brueggemann sermon starter
Editor’s note: In a new Theolog endeavor we’ve asked Walter Brueggemann to share some talking points on the Sunday lectionary for the next six weeks....
The Bible in first person: The Bible as it stands or as we understand it?
Many Christians like to think that they take the Bible as it stands, but in reality they take the Bible as they understand it....
Century Marks
Flat (and cool) earth society: In response to recent warnings by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) about the consequences of greenhouse-gas emissions, the conservative American Enterprise Institute is offering a $10,000 prize to scientists and economists who write articles which call attention to weaknesses of the IPCC report. In reporting this news, the Chronicle of Higher Education (March 2) said it is eagerly awaiting a patron who will offer “a reward for papers that discredit the spherical-earth theories that have been circulating for the past millennium or so.”
People's revolt: Political repression in Oaxaca
For the past 10 months, the people of the Mexican state of Oaxaca have been waging a campaign to remove their governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, who was narrowly elected in 2004 amid allegations of fraud...
Christians protest the war: Under the peace witness banner
Rick Ufford-Chase, a former moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), was arrested last September in Washington, D.C., while demonstrating against the Iraq war along with four other Presbyteri...
NAE rebuffs critics, affirming Cizik and a wider agenda: Caring for the environment, condemning torture
The National Association of Evangelicals has affirmed its stance on caring for the environment—indirectly rebuffing complaints that its vice president for governmental affairs is too engaged in env...
Charles Taylor wins Templeton Prize: Philosopher addresses spirituality, violence and culture
Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher whose work has touched on questions of spirituality, violence and culture, has been named the 2007 Templeton Prize winner....
Representative Stark, an open 'nontheist' First openly nontheistic member of Congress: First openly nontheistic member of Congress
Representative Fortney “Pete” Stark (D., Calif.) is the first openly “nontheistic” member of Congress, the Secular Coalition for America has announced....
Mohler would favor altering 'gay' fetus: A modest proposal
Aprominent Southern Baptist said he would support medical treatment, if it were available, to change the sexual orientation of a fetus inside its mother’s womb from homosexual to heterosexual....
Lutheran growth is in Asia, Africa: Steady decline in the West
Lutheran church membership soared in Africa and Asia between 2005 and 2006 but continued its steady decline in the West, according to the Lutheran World Federation, whose total constituency rose .7...
Methodists decry Japanese stance on 'comfort women' A WWII-era denial: A WWII-era denial
Asian American United Methodists, including those with Japanese ancestry, are strongly criticizing recent denials by the prime minister of Japan regarding that country’s coercion of “comfort women”...
Pope: Teachings are nonnegotiable: Benedict holds the line
Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed church teachings on divorce and priestly celibacy, and told Catholic politicians they must follow church doctrine on abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage....
Lawsuit filed against Southwestern Baptist: Sex discrimination charged
Sheri Klouda, a former Hebrew professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary who claims she was denied tenure because of her sex, has filed a federal lawsuit against the seminary and its pr...
College settles with transgender teacher: EEOC mediation yields agreement
Spring Arbor University in Michigan reached a financial settlement last month with fired transgender professor Julie Nemecek, who had filed a discrimination suit....
Briefly noted
The Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery says that reconciliation efforts have failed to convince its second-largest congregation to remain in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)....
A way forward? Changing the conversation on homosexuality: Changing the conversation on homosexuality
Unable to reach consensus regarding the ordination of gays, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), like many other denominations, found itself embroiled for years in a series of winner-take-all battles ...
Out of silence: The practice of congregational discernment
I had agreed, along with 11 other people from my congregation, to attend a program on congregational discernment, but I was not looking forward to it....