https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to purity culture en https://religiondispatches.org/2024/03/25/bans-gender-affirming-care-youth-reveal-purity-culture-more-just-evangelical-problem On March 22, Wyoming became the 24th state to pass legislation restricting gender affirming care to youth. These bills follow a precedent set by Arkansas in 2021, where legislators passed the first bill of its kind. Although vetoes and court… Mon, 25 Mar 2024 04:32:44 EDT M. Cooper Minister c29e975b-9f29-4537-b0fd-18175c8d769e https://religiondispatches.org/2023/12/18/pure-white-examines-white-supremacist-origins-evangelical-purity-culture Over the past few years purity culture has become a hot topic in the secular press. The harm it inflicts on White women has been explored by a number of scholars and survivors in books (both popular and scholarly), on… Mon, 18 Dec 2023 05:05:25 EST Emma Cieslik f0274a50-d4a7-4ef4-b579-c34dd5ef9974 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/06/29/racialization-meets-purity-culture-abortion-criminalization-cases-confirm-its-always Overturning Roe v. Wade was inevitable in this last decade. In March 2015, the state of Indiana sentenced 33-year-old Asian American woman, Purvi Patel to 20 years in prison on charges of feticide — an act that causes the death… Wed, 29 Jun 2022 01:57:34 EDT Mihee Kim-Kort 5274c2e5-b454-41d7-bce0-dd614433b30a https://religiondispatches.org/2022/06/22/salvation-purity-and-right-wing-activism-sampling-what-taxpayers-will-be-forced-support The two Christian schools at the center of Carson v. Makin —the case in which the Supreme Court just ruled that the state of Maine must include religious schools in its tuition assistance program for rural families that had, until… Wed, 22 Jun 2022 05:51:07 EDT Chrissy Stroop a2e4833b-7d15-4212-be33-faa55719d0a3 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/05/24/its-theology-stupid-why-shocking-sbc-report-anything-surprising On Sunday, an investigation firm called Guidepost Solutions released a 300-page report recounting a disturbingly familiar pattern of abuse and cover-up in the Southern Baptist Convention, the mostly white, evangelical Protestant denomination that accounts for over 5% of the adult… Tue, 24 May 2022 05:22:59 EDT Chrissy Stroop, Jessica Johnson 2c4cfa52-e3ce-47fa-aafd-0aeba8705786 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/03/15/putin-real-christian-understand-conflict-we-need-ask-different-questions Vladimir Putin’s campaign of violence in Ukraine has brought to the fore questions about his longstanding religious connections, prompting scholars and journalists to challenge his well-marketed piety and seemingly deep devotion to Russian Orthodox spirituality — the latter of which… Tue, 15 Mar 2022 12:00:16 EDT Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, Robert Saler 3ad3244f-b812-465c-adb3-1206d99052f4 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/03/07/his-forgiveness-day-sermon-slightly-more-sophisticated-globohomo-rant-kirill-lays-out Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been complicit in the political rhetoric used by Vladimir Putin. In one of her first articles on the topic, Katie Kelaidis reminded… Mon, 07 Mar 2022 01:31:04 EST Sarah Riccardi-Swartz 1f11723d-b69e-4480-a3b3-7cc5f8418e2c https://religiondispatches.org/2022/03/02/twisted-love-story-how-american-evangelicals-helped-make-putins-russia-and-how-russia If someone from 1965 were to arrive in a time machine, there’s likely much about our current state of affairs that would shock them. But I cannot imagine anything that would be more confusing than the love affair between the… Wed, 02 Mar 2022 05:41:12 EST Katherine Kelaidis de0e1cc2-ea2c-42d2-96e2-bed3be2dc673 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/02/23/turn-news-some-abortion-opponents-may-opt-new-vaccine-behind-their-skepticism-its-often In my younger, snottier days, I would have made short work of this piece by Jack Jenkins for Religion News Service: Q: Could Novavax win over some religious vaccine skeptics? A: No. This has been another edition of ‘Simple Answers… Wed, 23 Feb 2022 05:52:18 EST Daniel Schultz e75359f3-9a2d-4847-9369-8df339555f79 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/22/pew-finds-trump-era-increase-evangelical-label-and-yes-theyre-real-evangelicals New data released by the Pew Research Center has pundits once again running with the unhelpful narrative that America’s conservative, mostly white evangelicals comprise an essentially “ political ” (as opposed to “religious”) identity and movement—the not-so-subtle subtext being that… Wed, 22 Sep 2021 02:31:12 EDT Chrissy Stroop dab9f987-c2ca-4a7d-862b-479d9acf915f https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/16/why-freebritney-exvangelical-cause Everyone knows Britney Spears. Her talent, popularity, and struggles with mental illness are ubiquitous. A widely celebrated artist dubbed “The Princess of Pop,” Spears has five No. 1 singles and six No. 1 albums. She’s sold 150 million records around… Thu, 16 Sep 2021 01:47:48 EDT R.L. Stollar 6df39262-f621-4d85-8e4d-24f515a0b61e https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/25/fake-christian-deflection-and-contrarian-concern-trolling-how-not-write-about Over the last couple of weeks, America’s conservative, mostly white evangelicals have once again generated considerable buzz—and deserved criticism—over their authoritarian attitudes and behaviors. For example, as Christian nationalism has featured prominently at rallies against mask mandates and the Covid… Wed, 25 Aug 2021 05:14:08 EDT Chrissy Stroop 92414ce7-b8dd-4a21-89cd-0a2724e5e381 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/06/being-trans-religion-why-christian-right-wants-you-think-so Have you noticed how common it is for right-wingers to describe things they oppose in terms of religion? Back in April, for example, Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab (the social media platform of choice for white supremacists and right-wing… Fri, 06 Aug 2021 03:28:14 EDT Chrissy Stroop a3d0d62e-28c9-4e87-9316-f55328b9103c https://religiondispatches.org/2021/07/22/exvangelical-tiktokkers-arent-sign-end-times-heres-what-evangelicals-need-understand On June 27, David Jeremiah, who sat on Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board, preached a sermon at Shadow Mountain Community Church titled “Where Do We Go From Here: How the Prophecies of Tomorrow Help Us Understand the Problems of Today.”… Thu, 22 Jul 2021 05:09:36 EDT Blake Chastain 82c064b2-ec2e-4ba4-9ee3-a194c437c600 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/07/21/satanic-or-systemic-promise-keepers-are-back-and-looking-end-racism-trickle-down-racial This past weekend at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, marked the official public return of the Promise Keepers, their first in-person gathering since the 1990s. Founded by former University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney in 1990, Promise Keepers was… Wed, 21 Jul 2021 04:26:18 EDT A. E. Brooks-Key de165cb3-53fc-45e6-a99f-ddd18128c7fa https://religiondispatches.org/2021/06/16/quote-about-pregnant-church-outgoing-sbc-president-deeply-troubling-anyone-concerned “Whenever the church gets in bed with politics, the church gets pregnant. And our offspring does not look like our Father in Heaven.” - J.D. Greear, Southern Baptist Convention President, June 15, 2021 Outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention… Wed, 16 Jun 2021 03:08:58 EDT Jill Hicks-Keeton 99a6b9a2-355f-405a-b9ae-7ed64dff1cf5 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/06/15/we-cant-spiritualize-our-way-out-american-polarization As I noted previously here on RD , when it comes to covering American Christianity in general and conservative, mostly white evangelicals in particular, legacy media outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post have recently begun to… Tue, 15 Jun 2021 04:25:11 EDT Chrissy Stroop 3788243a-1227-4fe6-b0d4-c545006d514b https://religiondispatches.org/2021/06/10/less-moore-if-russell-moore-left-sbc-due-conscience-and-convictions-his-next-move The departure of Russell Moore from the Southern Baptist Convention has been a long time coming. As I noted here on RD last March, since the completion of the right-wing coup known in SBC circles as the “conservative resurgence,” the… Thu, 10 Jun 2021 02:53:06 EDT Chrissy Stroop d1ff60f6-8560-43dc-916e-124c8cf66cbe https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/27/evangelicals-moral-panic-over-exvangelicals Early last month, I expressed cautious optimism here on RD that conservative, mostly white evangelicals just might be losing control over the narrative about evangelicalism. Perhaps the best evidence that they have indeed lost control is that evangelical leaders are… Thu, 27 May 2021 05:07:55 EDT Chrissy Stroop 83b09b7d-8727-4dfb-842c-46407c3ba0b2 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/19/james-dobsons-family-values-were-influenced-eugenicist-audio This exclusive three-minute clip, featuring historian Audrey Clare Farley, is from the May 17 episode of Straight White American Jesus, a podcast hosted by Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller. RD will be collaborating with SWAJ to regularly bring you audio… Wed, 19 May 2021 10:08:42 EDT Bradley Onishi f862caf6-f76b-4164-8d97-ae7706a14ad7 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/04/inside-evangelical-beliefs-and-practices-facilitate-abuse-families-duggars Last Thursday, Josh Duggar’s sexual misconduct once again brought his reality TV-famous family into the spotlight. The 33-year-old was arrested Thursday on federal charges of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse materials, charges that carry a potential sentence of 20… Tue, 04 May 2021 02:40:31 EDT Caroline Matas 3d2fc83c-8612-448b-9ee0-a11304482185 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/03/josh-duggar-arrest-child-sexual-abuse-material-part-systemic-problem-evangelicalism Last Thursday, April 29, former reality TV star Josh Duggar was arrested by federal authorities and held without bail. On Friday, the charges dropped: downloading and possession of child sexual abuse material (still often referred to, problematically, as “child porn”)… Mon, 03 May 2021 04:07:25 EDT Chrissy Stroop 3f918bde-997f-4ea8-94e3-8251e79eba53 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/04/13/sex-outside-marriage-dehumanizing-problem-tim-kellers-biblical-sex-ethic There’s a reason Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York, enjoys a greater degree of public respect than many conservative evangelical leaders who clearly crave respectability . When you take a mild jab at Tim Keller… Tue, 13 Apr 2021 05:04:48 EDT Chrissy Stroop 29068506-96d7-4081-8b3d-39b9e4bff246 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/04/12/dear-beth-moore-your-apology-complementarianism-reeks-complementarianism Dear Beth: Confession: I am a clergywoman ordained in the Southern Baptist tradition who has completely denounced complementarianism as an institutional, theological, and scriptural concept. I am also an author who has examined her own sin and complacency in the… Mon, 12 Apr 2021 04:35:56 EDT J. Dana Trent 0c6f3342-a99c-46c8-b5fc-32fc7d83bcbc https://religiondispatches.org/2021/04/06/have-white-evangelicals-finally-lost-control-narrative Are conservative, mostly white evangelicals, finally losing control of their narrative in the public sphere, where Christian supremacist assumptions have up to now led to the effective silencing of ex-evangelical and critical scholarly voices? Recent developments suggest that a significant… Tue, 06 Apr 2021 11:02:27 EDT Chrissy Stroop cd79f77c-750b-4e71-bb13-63286feabb7a