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Archive: Robert Parham
Better angels needed for peace in Christmas wars
I wish Christian fundamentalists felt less alienated from our culture and were more on target with moral critique. I also wish humanists and atheists felt accepted enough in the public square that they didn't need to defend themselves with an ad campaign.
By Robert Parham | November 24, 2009; 11:22 AM ET | Comments (1)
Christian Right: New declaration, same old agenda
Once again, the Christian Right makes Jesus a secondary moral guide to their political agenda of criticizing President Obama and shrinking the Bible's moral vision.
By Robert Parham | November 20, 2009; 05:21 PM ET | Comments (4)
Fighting the right's religious test for military service
Demonization of American Muslims is under way among conservative American Christians who think wrongly that President Obama is showing his true colors as a Muslim and Muslims shouldn't be in the military. But this is not the first time that anxiety within right-wing Christianity has objected to government service based on faith. Stopping the phobia from spreading from the fringes of faith into the mainstream demands that faith leaders speak up now.
By Robert Parham | November 10, 2009; 11:44 AM ET | Comments (2)
Avoid temptation to connect shootings to faith
Hasan's actions no more represent Islam than the killer of an abortion doctor represents all anti-abortionists or a pedophile Baptist preacher represents all Baptists. People of faith rightly understand that it is unfair when those outside their faith assert that the misguided individual represents their house of faith.
By Robert Parham | November 6, 2009; 01:26 PM ET | Comments (2)
Health care bill's end-of-life counseling has moral value
Making decisions about the end of life makes more sense when the living can discern their choices in consultation with their family doctor. That's a better course than making decisions in the midst of an emotional crisis at the end of life.
By Robert Parham | November 3, 2009; 05:29 PM ET | Comments (1)
Good Religion Gone Bad
Good religion rightly applied is likely the only long-term solution to the intractable conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Even if good religion grinds too slowly for most of us, it is far superior to religion gone bad.
By Robert Parham | October 6, 2009; 08:54 AM ET | Comments (5)
Unhinged Society Needs Scapegoats
Unhinged politicians, wrathful preachers, belligerent protesters and hateful pundits pursue a practice as old as the Bible. They create scapegoats.
By Robert Parham | September 15, 2009; 03:35 PM ET | Comments (2)
Texas Heads for Shootout Over Religion in Textbooks
Regrettably, Texas religious conservatives are more determined to rule than to follow the Golden Rule. They are bent on a Texas theocracy--a form of government where fundamentalist Christian clergy and their deputies rule in the name of God.
By Robert Parham | September 2, 2009; 09:24 AM ET | Comments (1)
Heal the Sick and the System
Justice for the weak, the vulnerable and the stranger in the land is never heard at the anti-reform rallies, where the judgment of God is announced against reform-minded legislators.
By Robert Parham | August 18, 2009; 10:10 AM ET | Comments (4)
Jesus Would Tweet, and Warn of the Temptation of Technology
Jesus spoke in tweets before tweets became cool, if by tweets one means short messages.
By Robert Parham | August 11, 2009; 02:42 PM ET | Comments (3)
Blaming Men is not Good Theology
Blaming "male interpretations of religious texts" for the lack of women's equal rights is flawed theology, at least within the context of Baptists of the South.
By Robert Parham | July 21, 2009; 02:16 PM ET | Comments (1)
Sotomayor, the SBC, Land and the GOP
More evidence of the Religious Right's loss of influence, but no loss of far-right ideological partisanship.
By Robert Parham | July 17, 2009; 08:24 AM ET | Comments (186)
Across the Baptist-Muslim Divide
Distance is shrinking between Baptist and Muslim leaders in America--faster than rank-and-file members realize.
By Robert Parham | July 8, 2009; 11:07 AM ET | Comments (0)
King David's Playbook for Political Sex Scandals
When Southern politicians use religious language to confess their marital infidelity, they are tapping into one of the Bible Belt's best known stories--the story of David and Bathsheba.
By Robert Parham | June 30, 2009; 03:48 PM ET | Comments (2)
Burqa Battle Is Over Competing Visions of Religion in Public Square
The American vision is of a pluralistic democracy where all religions are equal in the public square. The French vision is one of a secular society, a society that dictates to religion.
By Robert Parham | June 25, 2009; 10:59 AM ET | Comments (3)
Rick Warren's Islamic Overture
American evangelicals like Rick Warren seek the common good with American Muslims because it is the right thing to do.
By Robert Parham | June 22, 2009; 03:04 PM ET | Comments (50)
