Politics

By John Stoehr On Monday the Senate Democrats the subject of religion. During the first day of Appellate Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings, they focused on health care and how Donald Trump’s third nominee might rule after the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments next month on the Affordable Care Act. Avoiding religion was …

By Daniel Burke Parker Neff was scrolling through conservative posts on Facebook when he saw an unfamiliar hashtag: #WWG1WGA. Recently retired after serving as a Southern Baptist pastor for more than 20 years, his time was free and curiosity piqued. “I started looking into it online,” Neff said. “Doing some research.” And with that, the …

By Kate Blanchard Even in the most evangelical phase of my life, when I was a college student who occasionally engaged in raising my hands while singing praise songs, I was horrified to know that there were some Christians in the world who thought it was a good idea to handle venomous snakes for the Lord. …

By Gregory A. Smith President Donald Trump continues to be White Christians’ preferred candidate for the November election, but support among voters in three major traditions – White Catholics, White Protestants who are not evangelical and even White evangelical Protestants – has slipped since August, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. Democratic candidate …

By AFP An Algerian court on Thursday handed a key member of the Hirak anti-government protest movement a 10-year prison sentence for “inciting atheism”, a rights group said. Yacine Mebarki was also found guilty of “offending Islam” and fined 10 million dinars ($77,400), Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian Human Rights League. Salhi said …

By Michelle R. Smith Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s affiliation with the Christian community People of Praise is drawing scrutiny because of what former members and observers describe as its ultraconservative views on women. Her defenders say scrutinizing her beliefs and relationship to the mostly Catholic organization is akin to anti-religious bigotry. But in interviews with …

By Alec Snyder, Kristina Sgueglia, Brynn Gingras and Susannah Cullinane Outspoken protester Harold “Heshy” Tischler was taken into custody Sunday evening in connection with an alleged assault during protests against new anti-coronavirus restrictions in an Orthodox Jewish area of Brooklyn, New York police say. Some members of the Orthodox Jewish community protested in the Borough Park neighborhood …

By Elizabeth Kim A group of Jewish organizations and the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn are separately suing Governor Andrew Cuomo to stop the state from enforcing attendance limits on house of worship in parts of New York that have been designated for new restrictions due to rising coronavirus cases. The lawsuits mark an expected and …

By Jack Jenkins The divisions that the coronavirus pandemic has caused in the United States — with some viewing social distancing restrictions as sensible and altruistic while others decry them as infringements on our freedoms — have been blamed on everything from political parties to toxic masculinity. But a group of academics say there may be …

By Dr. Juhem Navarro-Rivera For more than a decade, I have been chronicling the growth of the secular population, focusing my research particularly on their political behavior. We know that most secular voters in the U.S. vote for Democratic Party presidential candidates. We also know that secular people’s policy preferences and ideological views are to the left of the …

By Phil Zuckerman Every election cycle has its “firsts.” This year, the selection of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate presented the U.S. with its first politician of Indian heritage – and the first Black woman – to be on a major party ticket. It followed Hillary Clinton’s becoming the first woman to win the popular vote for president in …

By Ariane de Vogue The Supreme Court returned to the controversial issue of religious freedom on Tuesday in a case concerning three Muslim men who are seeking to sue FBI special agents for damages under a federal law meant to protect religious liberty. The dispute began seven years ago when, said Muhammad Tanzir, Jameel Algibhah and …