Kevin J. Worthen (BYU): The NCAA and Religion: Insights About Non-State Governance from Sunday Play and End Zone Celebrations. Nancy Wadsworth (Denver): Could this be Political Anthropology? Reflections on Studying Conservative Evangelical Subcultures. The introduction to Religion and Democracy in the United States: Danger or Opportunity?, ed. Alan Wolfe and Ira Katznelson. From Political Theology, a review of books on religion and American politics. From Church and State, bombastic TV host Glenn Beck and Religious Right "Professor" David Barton team up to rewrite American history; and Michigan multi-millionaire Betsy DeVos is a four-star general in a deceptive behind-the-scenes war on public schools and church-state separation. Will Radical Christianity have any effect on the American church? Beer Me, Jesus: The ambiguously Christian leader of Catalyst Church is bored with hate and Hell. More on In the Land of Believers by Gina Welch. A review of Wandering Souls: Protestant Migrations in America, 1630-1865 by S. Scott Rohrer. Since 2008, ChristWire.org has emerged as the leading Internet site for ultraconservative Christian news, commentary and weather reportage — oh, by the way, ChristWire is all one big joke. Four ways Christians damage sex: Jonathan Acuff explores how the American church has accidentally made sex more confusing. From The Freethinker, a look at at Wow: The CatholicTV Challenge, a Catholic game show for kids. From New Geography, Travis Vauhgn on the suburbanization of religious diversity. The idea that the United States has always been a bastion of religious freedom is reassuring — and utterly at odds with the historical record. David Sehat on the myth of American religious freedom: Religion, morality, and law (and part 2).
