Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s attack ad features a retired Biblical-studies teacher. Originally published in Indy Week. IMAGINE RETIRED BIBLE TEACHER Rick Stone’s surprise to find himself depicted as a “Godless American.” This week, Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole began running a statewide 30-second TV ad linking her opponent, Kay Hagan, to a political action […]
DNC Day 1: Come All Ye Faithful
The Democratic National Convention kicks off with some old-time religion. Originally published in Indy Week. THE FIRST WORDS I HEARD WHEN I heard when I walked into the theater at the Colorado Convention Center came from the University of Denver’s Spirituals Project Choir. Two thousand people had gathered for the first official event of the Democratic National […]
‘Friendship’ evangelists eschew the street
Part 3 of the three-part “Messianics Rising” series. Originally published by JTA. FAIRFAX, VA.—THE SMELL OF FRIED LATKES permeates Darrin and Sharon Speck’s two-story townhouse in this Washington suburb. It’s the second night of Chanukah, and the couple have gathered some friends and neighbors to celebrate. Three-dimensional Stars of David dangle over the entrance to a […]
Messianics are praying the ‘Shema’ and preaching Jesus
Part 2 of the three-part “Messianics Rising” series. Originally published by JTA. CARY, N.C.—THE SHABBAT MORNING SERVICE at Congregation Sha’arei Shalom in this suburb of Raleigh has a familiar feel to anyone who grew up in a mainstream American synagogue. Sixty adults and a handful of children have gathered in a sanctuary adorned with seven-branched menorahs and an […]
Growing evangelical movement finding new ways to proselytize
Part 1 of the three-part “Messianics Rising” series. Originally published by JTA. NEW YORK, N.Y.—A WINTER BLAST HAS EMPTIED the streets of the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, yet inside the Living Springs Family Center, a storefront Pentecostal church with stamped-tin ceilings, the space heaters are cranked up. So is the music, an upbeat gospel […]
Leap of Faith
Can academic rigor, firm discipline, and a daily dose of religion turn boys from poor families into scholars? An intimate look at one such attempt. Originally published in Duke Magazine. AS AN AUGUST DRIZZLE falls outside, thirty-one middle-schoolers sit at long tables in a North Carolina mountain lodge. It’s the end of summer vacation: Next week […]
Schweitzer’s Dangerous Discovery
When this shy paleontologist found soft, fresh-looking tissue inside a T. rex femur, she erased a line between past and present. Then all hell broke loose. Originally published in Discover. EVER SINCE MARY HIGBY SCHWEITZER peeked inside the fractured thighbone of a Tyrannosaurus rex, the introverted scientist’s life hasn’t been the same. Neither has the field of paleontology. […]
Creation Nation
Ken Ham says creationism and the inerrancy of the Bible are the solution to the world’s ills. Welcome to the world of Answers in Genesis. Originally published in Indy Week. ON THE RED-CARPETED DAIS of a church the size of a department store, a man with a Lincolnesque beard is addressing a sanctuary full of evangelical […]
The Political Fortunes of the Radical Right
As the Republican convention kicked off in Madison Square Garden, the party’s influential conservative activists were holed up across the street—with a handful of reporters and a large bag of fortune cookies. Originally published in the online edition of Mother Jones. AS THE IMAGE-CONSCIOUS REPUBLICANS GAVELED OPEN their national convention Monday morning—kicking off a four-day festival […]
Forbidden Science
What can studies of pornography, prostitution, and seedy truck stops contribute to society? Originally published in Discover. YORGHOS APOSTOLOPOULOS WAS AT HIS OFFICE at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta last October when his red voice-mail light started glowing. When he picked up the phone, he heard a somber voice. “We need to speak,” said […]
