Posts tagged "culture wars"
The Danger of Winning
By Ann Neumann Is a revisionist history of abortion rights being used--by journalists, supporters, and lawyers--to curtail Supreme Court rulings on other rights like same sex marriage. Is "fear of the backlash" just a stubborn frame?
The Extraordinary, Amazing, Miraculous Story of Christian Hollywood
Amy Levin: It’s only the end of January and many of us are already in winter break withdrawal – missing those precious days when you can sit back, relax with your nieces and nephews and watch those fun, PG-rated, faithy, family films about saving cute animals and. . . yourself? Yes, the days when Disney...
Ordained Into the Abstract:
What does “Anglican” Mean?
In Christopher Armstrong's brief history of U.S. fundamentalism, he cites that in the 1970s, “the movement began a tectonic shift from protecting theological truths in infra-denominational fights to guarding 'Christian morality' in a nation specially chosen by God.” As part of this shifting, terms like “evangelical” (Good News) and “Christian” (follower of Jesus Christ)...
Theocracy, Eh?
23 January 2006 Pilgrim Harper brings the culture wars north. By Kathryn Joyce From Le Cornichon A smart and serious fundamentalist runs for his nation’s top leadership position, and the paper of record, The New York Times, responds with a 100% religion-free story? Can it be? Well, it’s not without precedent. When George W. Bush ran for...
The First Amendment Center and Its Influence
Alan Elsner of the San Diego Union-Tribune misses at least one culture-warring beat in his report on The Bible and Its Influence: a new, 387-page glossy edition of the King James Old and New Testaments that aims to reestablish the Bible as an academic text for public schools, to be used in a “nonsectarian, nonreligious...
ID Roundup
Intelligent Design advocates’ tactic of painting their opponents’ pro-evolution arguments as another belief-set or religion — a tactic well-honed by conservative pundits over the past year — graduates from PR-stunt to litigation claim this week, as a California couple sues UC Berkeley for portions of their website that “endorse religious views consistent with [evolution].” The...
USAID, Christ and Liberty
William Fisher, who has worked on economic programs in developing nations for the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), wonders at the message being sent by one of President Bush’s latest appointments, dean of academic affairs at the home-schooling fundamentalist college of choice, Patrick Henry College (motto: “For Christ and...
The War on Christmas is Always Now
The ACLU didn’t steal Christmas, but don’t think that’s about to stop Jerry Falwell in his remarkably unoriginal new drive, “Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign,” which will enlist 8,000 members of the Christian Educators Association International to monitor public schools for “misinformation about how Christmas can be celebrated in schools and public spaces.” While conservative...
Calvaryism
The New York Times’ Carolyn Marshall does an admirable job of refereeing in her latest story, about a pending lawsuit between parents from the Calvary Chapel Christian School, in Murrieta, California, and the University of California, over a set of Christian-themed courses taught at Calvary that weren’t certified as acceptable foundation courses for students applying...
Under Attack
According to a survey commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League, “American Attitudes Toward Religion in the Public Square,” nearly two-thirds of American citizens believe that religion is under siege, presumably threatened by the remaining third of citizens who, though vastly outnumbered, are presumably better-equipped with their fierce powers of sarcasm and disdain honed in elite, Northeastern...
