Politics

By Devin Dwyer Houses of worship from Nevada to New York, chafing at attendance restrictions imposed by state governors during the coronavirus pandemic, are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene on their behalf as a matter of religious freedom. Two Orthodox Jewish synagogues in New York this week joined the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn in asking the justices to …

By Tom Gjelten Key government policies on religious freedom and discrimination, once set through legislation, are increasingly dictated by presidential orders, meaning they shift capriciously from one administration to the next. In 2014, advocates for LGBTQ rights cheered when President Barack Obama unilaterally issued an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating in their hiring practices on …

By Yonat Shimron When it comes to mass incarceration, American evangelicals are complicated. So says Aaron Griffith in his new book, “God’s Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America.” On the one hand, evangelicals led the charge for greater law and order in the postwar era, with the National Association of Evangelicals favoring …

By Emma Green Andy Stanley’s evangelical megachurch was empty on Election Night, with only a few cars in the Disney World–style parking lot out front. North Point Community Church and its nine satellites in the Atlanta area have been mostly closed since the coronavirus pandemic began in March. When Stanley decided to cancel in-person worship until …

By Katherine Stewart Will President-elect Joe Biden’s victory force America’s Christian nationalists to rethink the unholy alliance that powered Donald Trump’s four-year tour as one of the nation’s most dangerous presidents? Don’t count on it. The 2020 election is proof that religious authoritarianism is here to stay, and the early signs now indicate that the …

By Robert Barnes When a public official says he is pessimistic that his comments won’t be twisted or misunderstood but then adds, “here goes,” even he knows something controversial is coming up. That’s how Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. began his rock-ribbed and unusual speech to the Federalist Society on Thursday night. He …

By Jack Jenkins President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisers are backing his challenges to the results of the 2020 election, though most stop short of joining the president’s effort to declare victory despite President-elect Joe Biden’s substantial leads in key swing states. Ralph Reed, head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, echoed Senate Majority Leader Mitch …

By Ron Millar Humanists across the nation and around the world are joining in the celebration of Donald Trump’s defeat. We can now embrace hope for progress in a way that wasn’t possible these last four years. While we don’t wish to sink to his level of strident demonization, we do need to recognize that …

By the Pew Research Center In 2018, the global median level of government restrictions on religion – that is, laws, policies and actions by officials that impinge on religious beliefs and practices – continued to climb, reaching an all-time high since Pew Research Center began tracking these trends in 2007. The year-over-year increase from 2017 …

By Gabby Orr It wasn’t until Election Day, when returns showed counties across Michigan, Georgia and the industrial Midwest leaning toward Joe Biden due to a groundswell of religious support, that the Trump campaign realized it had a problem. For months, President Donald Trump’s top aides and religious allies dismissed his softening support with white …

By Ryan Burge I’ve always been fond of the “Charlie Brown with the football” series from Peanuts. The premise is simple: Lucy is holding a football and she wants Charlie to kick it. Charlie is reluctant because he knows Lucy’s track record: she will yank the football away at the last minute. Still, every time …

By Drew Harwell and Craig Timberg President Trump’s election loss and the week-long silence of “Q,” the QAnon movement’s mysterious prophet, have wrenched some believers into a crisis of faith, with factions voicing unease about their future or rallying others to stay calm and “trust the plan.” The uncertainty has been compounded by the abrupt …