Evan Derkacz is the managing editor of the brand spanking new Religion Dispatches, a Ford Foundation-funded magazine on the intersection of religion, values and public life.

He has been an editor and writer for the award-winning web magazine, AlterNet.org, and Tikkun magazine's media coordinator. His writing has appeared in McSweeney's, AlterNet, and Start Making Sense (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004) and he's been interviewed on Air America and Pacifica Radio.

Blog Entries by Evan Derkacz

Collision: Hitchens Debates Conservative Evangelical, Nothing Happens

1 Comments | Posted November 4, 2009 | 02:53 PM (EST)


The following is the opening to an article by philosophy professor Eric Reitan on Religion Dispatches. Read the original HERE. See Hitchens' and Wilson's joint HuffPo post HERE.

An atheist and an evangelical walk into a bar... While probably the opening line of at least one joke,...

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Eminent Liberal Theologian on American Empire: Can Obama Pull Off a Game-Changer in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan?

Posted June 23, 2009 | 04:09 PM (EST)


Today's feature on Religion Dispatches was written by the most eminent interpreter of the American liberal theological tradition today, Gary Dorrien.

Dilemmas of American Empire: Can Obama Pull Off a Game-Changer in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan?

In the wake of the Bush administration's disastrous...

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Carrie Prejean, God's Prophet or Porn Star?

2 Comments | Posted May 11, 2009 | 03:52 PM (EST)


Feminist religion scholar Paula Cooey penned this piece for Religion Dispatches. Here's a snippet:


Bad Theology Leads to Bad Ethics

For my part, beauty pageants ceased to be of interest some time ago. In my opinion they are exercises in the banality of soft-core pornography; a...

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Why No Muslim Response to Torture?

Posted April 22, 2009 | 05:15 PM (EST)


From Religion Dispatches' blog, The Devil's Advocate, Hussein Rashid writes:

When Pres. Obama released the "torture memos" people were outraged; some for being outed for their complicity and some for being unable to deny their complicity. The President said America had lost its moral compass...

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Stem Cell Wars: Why Religion and Politics Should Not Be Separated

Posted March 10, 2009 | 05:05 PM (EST)


The following is an excerpt from Lou Ruprecht's post on The Devil's Advocate, the official blog of Religion Dispatches.

The President's announcement yesterday that he intends to lift the eight-year Bush ban on federally funded human stem cell research presents the political left with an interesting problem....

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I Don't Recognize Your Union: A Marriage Manifesto

Posted November 17, 2008 | 03:19 PM (EST)


I no longer recognize marriage. It's a new thing I'm trying.

Turns out it's fun.

Yesterday I called a woman's spouse her boyfriend.

She says, correcting me, "He's my husband,"
"Oh," I say, "I no longer recognize marriage."

The impact is obvious. I tried it on a man who...

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Gutless Americans: Religion-Baiting Ascendant Heading into Election Day

Posted November 4, 2008 | 03:18 PM (EST)


The following originally appeared on Religion Dispatches which is honoring Election Day with short posts from numerous contributors.

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The problem with cynicism is that it's lazy. Has no room to consider degree of infraction, no patience for the sweep of a spectrum. How are to know...

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John McCain May Not Believe in God

Posted October 6, 2008 | 06:07 PM (EST)


Over at Religion Dispatches, scholar Kathryn Lofton has, after lengthy research, vigorous examination and a month of analysis, concluded that in all likelihood, John McCain does not believe in God.

As many have noted in emails to RD, as well as in comments elsewhere, who cares?

...
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McCain Supports Earmark-Filled Bailout Bill

Posted October 2, 2008 | 03:27 PM (EST)


This is an email from my father, Herb Dicker, a 40-year veteran of the banking industry in New York (His full bio appears below as it seems illustrative):

. . .in the bailout bill:

New Tax earmarks in Bailout bill:

  • Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502)
  • Wooden Arrows designed for use by...

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Witches, Fine... But Does Sarah Palin Believe in Religious Tolerance?

Posted September 30, 2008 | 10:02 PM (EST)


This post was written by Lisa Webster and first appeared on Religion Dispatches.

Hard to fault journalists for missing the full back story on Sarah Palin's witch-hunting pastor, Thomas Muthee--it really is complicated. We need a chart to track the connections, from Pastor Muthee to Palin's...

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Do Liberals "Get It" When it Comes to Fighting Fundamentalism?

Posted September 25, 2008 | 03:58 PM (EST)


Has a secretive, informal network of fundamentalist Christians had undue influence over American policy? Over the summer vacation a newly unveiled Religion Dispatches convened its first round table, resulting in a lively discussion of Jeff Sharlet's new book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American...

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Open Letter to Sean Hannity and a Reflection on a UU Upbringing

Posted July 29, 2008 | 08:45 PM (EST)


There was a religious flavor to the tragic killings in Knoxville, TN -- and I don't just refer to the Unitarian Church in which the murders took place.

The killer, Jim Adkisson, appears to have felt called upon to defeat a great evil -- liberals -- in order to...

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Swiftboating Obama: Renowned Muslim Scholar Couldn't Publish Apostasy Response

Posted May 30, 2008 | 07:26 PM (EST)


Cross-posted on the ReligionDispatches blog. Go straight to the statement in response to Edward Luttwak's "apostasy" Op-Ed HERE.

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On May 12, senior associate for the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Edward "Give War a Chance" Luttwak published a now infamous Op-Ed in...

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Historical Revisionism Jujitsu: Religious Right Celebrates End of Interracial Marriage Ban

Posted May 12, 2008 | 02:05 PM (EST)


Cross-posted from Religion Dispatches, the new magazine for intelligent analysis of religion and public life.

Tony Perkins' Family Research Council may be the brightest star in the Christian Right constellation, with deep ties to the unholy trinity of the Republican party, James Dobson's Focus on the...

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