Christian Right

Shea helped the worshiping faithful understand the purchasing power of Christian consumers as an extension of their piety; as form of devotional practice that encompassed the ordinary pleasures of music entertainment.

On the wrong side of history—again.

My grandfather, born to immigrants in 1878, was undoubtedly familiar with the all-but-forgotten figure of Robert Green Ingersoll, the “Great Agnostic,” who popularized Darwin for the millions, who championed the disgraced Thomas Paine, and who kept alive the important tradition of American free thought during the last quarter of the 19th century.

It’s hard to overstate Phillips’ influence on today’s religiously-inflected conservatism.

Or just endless tenure in a job that doesn’t require an IQ test.

Hundred of thousands of evangelical Christians have gathered at TheCall prayer rallies organized by Lou Engle, a major leader in the political movement called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the subject of a new article by PRA Fellow Rachel Tabachnick. Engle claims that there has been a “shift in the heavens and that God has thrown a window open,” so that we “have entered a season of time in a massive [spiritual] war.”

Paul Cameron is a psychologist who claims homosexual people are a danger to public health and the social fabric of America. His studies explicitly argue that homosexuality is a disturbing psychological illness. Cameron often makes links between homosexuality and child abuse, pedophilia, a shorter life expectancy, poor parenting skills, drug abuse, and violent crimes.

Social conservatives claim they will bolt the GOP over gay marriage.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is suing a florist for refusing service to a gay couple, as the florist says, “because of [her] relationship with Jesus Christ.” Coverage of the story by local media and national news outlets has focused on the legal action in light of the recent passage of Washington’s same-sex marriage law.

Following the arrest of a gay rights advocate in Zambia, Political Research Associates’ religious and sexuality researcher Rev. Canon Dr. Kapya Kaoma writes about the attacks on gay people in his home country for the Lukasa Times. Zambian LGBTQ people are currently hiding out in fear of a government crack-down, triggered, officials claim, by attempts by two same-sex couples to receive marriage recognition. Rev. Kaoma wrote about the situation in August 2012 in a Public Eye article, “The Culture Wars Come to Zambia.”