Evangelicals

Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson is the Face of the Republican Party: Election Denialist, Forced Birth Enforcer, Homophobe and Christian Zionist

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Disguised as a mild-mannered Clark Kent, Mike Johnson is a raging theocrat under his tailored suit, who believes his ascension to the speakership was ordained by God. The formerly invisible but now made manifest Christian Nationalist from Louisiana was elevated to power unanimously, following three weeks of vindictive, […]

Evangelicals

Apocalyptic Politics are Clouding the U.S. Response to the Israel-Hamas Conflict and Demonizing Muslim-Americans

Florida Phoenix

By Diane Roberts | – ( Florida Phoenix ) – Remember when a quarter of Americans thought Barack Obama might be the Antichrist? They feared he’d impose a One World Government — as Dr. Peter Venkman says in Ghostbusters, “a disaster of biblical proportions, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together” — and trigger the […]

Evangelicals

The dangerous Alliance of religious Nationalism in Israel and America to Silence Critics of Apartheid

Waging Nonviolence

Morgan Artyukhina ( Waging Nonviolence ) – A new brand of far-right religious nationalism in Israel is seeking to refine the country’s ethnocentric basis, increasing its policing of the boundaries of Israeli Jewish identity in an attempt to shore up support for Israel’s anti-Arab policies. A parallel movement is unfolding in Israel’s chief benefactor, the […]

Authoritarianism

The MAGA Golden Calf: The Christian Right’s dangerous Flirtation with Political Violence and Far-Right Extremism

Matthijs Kronemeijer

By Matthijs Kronemeijer | – Toronto (Special to Informed Comment) – The November edition of First Things, a magazine of the Christian Right, features a lengthy statement from a group of theologians called Evangelicals and Catholics Together. The church friend who spontaneously sent me a link indicated that the statement is about Christian citizenship and […]

Christianity

Churches Are Breaking the Law by Endorsing in Elections, Experts Say. The IRS Looks the Other Way

ProPublica

By Jeremy Schwartz and Jessica Priest | – Co-published with The Texas Tribune ( ProPublica) – Six days before a local runoff election last year in Frisco, a prosperous and growing suburb of Dallas, Brandon Burden paced the stage of KingdomLife Church. The pastor told congregants that demonic spirits were operating through members of the […]

Bill of Rights

From Veiling to Abortion, Iran’s Theocrats seek to Control Women’s Bodies, just as do U.S. Republican Theocrats

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday, hard line Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi announced that his government would pull out the stops to crush the popular unrest sweeping the country that was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, 22, a Kurdish young woman who was arrested by the morals police for […]

Christianity

Expanding the Occupation of Palestinians in the Name of Jesus

H. Scott Prosterman

Most people agree that imperialism has been a very bad thing for the world. American Indian leader Dennis Means addressed a capacity crowd at the Rackham Auditorium at the University of Michigan in 1981. When I asked him to compare the plight of American Indians with the Palestinians, Mr. Means said, “Palestinians are the Indians […]

Bill of Rights

Justice Alito Laments Disrespect for Religion as Americans Abandon Faith – Will his Dobbs Push them Further Away?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNN’s Ariane de Vogue, reports that Justice Samuel Alito, a right wing Catholic, gave a speech in Rome for Notre Dame last week, which has finally become public. Alito posed as a defender of religious freedom, but what he seemed to mean by that was the religious people who are […]

Christianity

Patriarchy and Purity Culture Silence Evangelical, Southern Baptist Women amid Sexual Abuse Scandals

The Conversation

By Julie Ingersoll, University of North Florida | – A devastating yearlong investigation into the executive committee of the largest conservative evangelical denomination in the U.S., the Southern Baptist Convention, has documented widespread claims of sex abuse including accusations of rape, cover-ups and gross mistreatment of women seeking justice. In 2019 the Houston Chronicle and […]