(ANALYSIS) A 22-year-old student has been charged with allegedly offending religious sentiments after making derogatory remarks about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Whatever the merits of the case, the incident raises an important question: Should the right to free speech include the right to criticize religion — one’s own or someone else’s?
Read More(ANALYSIS) I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth repeating here: Whenever I tweet a graph that contains a couple of the largest religious groups (evangelicals, Catholics, nonreligious), the first question that comes in the comments is inevitably, “Where are the Latter-day Saints?”
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Black church in America is an entirely different culture than the average White evangelical or mainline tradition. Anyone who has attended a worship service in a Black church tradition knows that to be true. But beyond a difference in worship styles, there are many ways that the Black church should be considered its own category.
Read More(OPINION) If you are a conservative, Bible-believing Christian, there’s a lot to like about the Rev. Calvin Robinson. His behavior of the past few years has demonstrated both a sharp mind and an enormous gift for communication, but also an unseemly appetite for controversy and the limelight.
Read More(OPINION) While public school Bible initiatives seem commendable, and we agree with recognizing the Bible’s value as an educational resource for teaching the moral, spiritual and historical context of Western civilization, we believe there’s a less controversial way to go about encouraging Bible teaching in our schools.
Read MoreAs Tennessee’s chief lawyer, it’s Jonathan Skrmetti’s job to defend the state against legal challenges to its statutes. And in U.S. v. Skrmetti, one of the Supreme Court’s most consequential cases this term, Skrmetti and his office are defending Tennessee Senate Bill 1, which prohibits the use of drugs or surgeries to alter a minor’s sex characteristics.
Read MoreCongressional representatives are seeking to protect the freedom of tax-exempt charitable groups by filing the Safeguarding Charity Act. The bill would reaffirm that a tax-exempt status is not financial assistance, making a group subject to federal regulations.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Research from Scheitle and Cornell found that there’s often a significant mismatch between what the clergy say that they are speaking about and what is actually received by the congregants. Are they receptive to politically charged messages from the pulpit?
Read More(ANALYSIS) It seems like I get asked about the transgender issue nearly every day. I readily admit that it may be the most caustic and divisive social issue of this era of the culture war. My goal here is to give you the very best estimates possible about the share of Americans who don’t currently identify as male or female in the U.S. and then describe the overall religiosity of this group.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Only about 30% of Americans can correctly answer basic questions about government institutions, public policy, etc. In other words, it’s a miracle that democracy works at all given just how little the average voter knows. But what happens when we throw religion in the mix?
Read More(ANALYSIS) In a 14-year time period, support for same-sex marriage went from 31% to 68%. That’s just a stunning shift in such a short period of time. And because of the velocity of the change, we cannot attribute that to generational replacement.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Homeschooled kids constitute a population group that I’ve always wanted to try to understand better, but it’s a super hard methodological problem. There’s no central database that tracks them.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Any presidential election causes a real problem for me. I do get asked to talk to reporters and do webinars and write pieces for major outlets about the role that faith played at the ballot box. There’s one issue: I just don’t have access to any reliable data for a very long time after an election.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Let me noodle around on that topic of polarization by using a nice question battery in the Cooperative Election Study. Along with religious affiliation, it asks folks to put themselves on an ideological scale that ranges from 1 (meaning very liberal) to 7 (meaning very conservative), while 4 is “middle of the road.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Jan. 20, Donald Trump will take the presidential oath of office. And then he will probably add the phrase “so help me God.” Those four little words are not in the Constitution, but for many Americans, the phrase has been a part of the oath ever since George Washington was said to have added it 236 years ago.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Today, I am especially interested in what is happening with the Republican party in a post-Trump America. I have some data that offer a little bit of a window into who evangelicals might vote for when Trump’s name is not on the primary ballot.
Read More(OPINION) When Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom isn’t of this world. If it were, my followers would be fighting,” he was saying, in effect, there’s no kingdom on this planet — including yours, Pilate — that operates according to the rules of the kingdom I proclaim. Today we fail to see how cosmically revolutionary Jesus, his kingdom and his early followers were.
Read More(ANALYSIS) We examined how religious organizations actually engage in political activities, providing a window into the behavior of congregations in ways often not explored. Our findings challenge common perceptions about the relationship between religious institutions and political behavior.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Democracy depends upon using words wisely. With the right words, citizens can live and work together, even in disagreement – and resolve conflicts peacefully. A lesson from Buddhism seems particularly apt in this moment of enemyship: Treat the people you disagree with as mistaken rather than evil.
Read More(OPINION) So what are we to do? Wring our hands and swallow nerve pills like they’re Pez? Stay hopping mad at those on the other side of our political barricades? That’s sure no way to spend the next four years. That’s a recipe for madness, both personal and societal.
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