Matthew Rindge, Ph.D.

The death of decency is becoming our new soul numbing reality. If we can harm children in this manner, is there any limit to what we will do?

We have by now heard a litany of reasons why so many voters chose Donald Trump for president. Without discounting any of these helpful explanations, I would like to suggest another factor that accounts for Trump’s appeal to so many U.S. voters. Trump succeeded, in part, because he tapped into the most dominant thread of American religion. The most powerful religion in America is America itself.

Since its infancy cinema has been understood in religious terms. In 1921 film critic Jean Epstein described film as “profane revelation.”

In 1900, W. E. B. Du Bois declared that “the problem of the 20th century” would be “the problem of the color line.” His prediction is just as true for our 21st century. Black men and women in contemporary America are judged not by the content of their character, but by the color of their skin.

The Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) votes today on whether it will divest finances from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions. This decision will be even more controversial than the Church’s vote yesterday to allow ministers to officiate same-sex weddings.

"Christians who fault films for taking artistic license with a biblical story misunderstand the very nature of biblical literature...The Bible itself invites us to...

Darren Aronofsky’s "Noah" is an epic reimagining of a biblical myth. It is the reimagining (not so much the myth) that has troubled certain kinds of Christians who have engaged in their predictable practice of critiquing a film without taking the time to see it.