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Can Atheists Simply Ignore Theology?

By Eric Reitan

…onclude that string theory is nonsense, since it’s incomprehensible to me. Fortunately, Myers’ more prominent follower is also a more careful thinker. Dawkins offers an interpretation of “The Courtier’s Reply” that, at least at first glance, lends it more plausibility. In the preface to the paperback edition of The God Delusion, Dawkins distinguishes between two kinds of theology: the kind which presupposes God’s existence, which I’ll call substan…

Our Lady of Good Hope and Excellent Behavior: Why this Apparition and Why Now?

By Lisa Bitel

…ons is probably a jump in reports of apparitions and manifestations of the Virgin. Rumors of miracles and visions now fly around the globe via the internet, rather than moving locally through the whispers of neighbors and friends, as both Paolo Apolito has pointed out. International pilgrimages are much easier now, at least for the middle class that can afford plane tickets to Medjugorje and Civitavecchia. Pilgrims learn from major apparition site…

The Rise and Fall of an American Gang: Religion as Camouflage?

By Spencer Dew

…The book is alternately fascinating and frustrating. What we learn of Jeff Fort’s childhood doesn’t mention religious upbringing, though he had siblings named “Maryam, Kadija… Kaaba, Akaba, and Aki.” Similar gaps riddle the narrative. “An Illinois politician invited Fort to attend the 1969 inauguration of President Richard Nixon,” we’re told, but we’re not told who, or why. Likewise, we’re told “the El Rukns had been paid ten thousand dollars thro…

First U.S. Visit of the Virgin Mary Confirmed in Wisconsin

By Lewis Wallace

…f the December 8 announcement, Tipps says, the shrine saw an unprecedented number of people. Visitors from as far away as New Mexico wandered onto the grounds, with several walking into the Tipps’ home assuming it was a visitor center. The shrine rented a port-a-john in order to have enough bathroom space, but it was quickly blown over by winter winds. Asked if she is happy about the developments, Tipps laughs. “We’re kind of being a little bit se…

Burma’s Spirit Festival, and More in This Week’s Global LGBT Roundup

By Peter Montgomery

…m his obligations, to govern for all people,’ says Troya. St. Thomas & The Virgin Islands: Column explores losses in former LGBT ‘mecca’ At St. Thomas Source, Edward Benfield sees losses for LGBT communities in the Virgin Islands but also some reason for hope: For many Virgin Islanders, it may come as a surprise to learn that St. Thomas was a mecca of Caribbean gay life from the mid 1960s to the early 1990s. Today, the experience of being lesbian,…

Alleged Fort Hood Shooter Is Muslim. So What?

By Sarah Posner

…ims for Progressive Values issued a joint statement that “Thoughtless and groundless violence cannot ever be justified by any religious or personal beliefs and actions such as the shocking events in Fort Hood go against Islamic teachings of love and respect for life.” More than 3,000 Muslims serve in the United States military. Jumping to conclusions about Hasan’s supposed religious motivations, and worse, sowing rumors and fears of a fifth column…

Pope’s US Visit Provokes Intense Attention; New Vatican Book on Man-Woman Complementarity & New Int’l Report on Christian Role Models for LGBT Equality; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…nt Families, Same Love” have been sent to every school in Ireland, show “a number of families from different backgrounds – from same-sex parents to single parents, from grandparents raising a child to a childless couple with a dog.” The poster is meant to help teachers create inclusive classrooms and deter bullying. But the conservative Catholic Iona Institute, which led opposition to the marriage equality referendum, is arguing that religious sch…

Istanbul ‘Haven of Sorts’ For LGBT Syrians and Iraqis; Cayman Islands Affirm Marriage Ban with ‘Holy Bible Evidence’; No Room for LGBTs in Malaysia’s ‘Islam-Based’ Human Rights Policy; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…place of gay people and families in Catholicism. Boorstein reports that a number of pro-LGBT groups have been denied permission to have a booth in the exhibition hall at the World Meeting. Among them was Fortunate Families, a group for Catholic parents seeking equality for their LGBT children. Its president, Deb Word, and her husband run a safe house for LGBT youth in Memphis. The World Meeting’s director of programming, Mary Beth Yount, told Wor…

How We Got to Super: Grant Morrison’s Visionary Gnosticism

By Jeffrey J. Kripal

…morphed from an earlier one used by a Cambridge classicist named Frederic Myers: “supernormal.” The word did double work for Myers: it offered an alternative to “supernatural,” and it carried distinct evolutionary connotations. Like a wormy caterpillar witnessing the graceful wings and bright colors of a floating butterfly nearby, Myers thought that human capacities like telepathic communications and precognitive dreams were early signs of an evo…

Orthodox TV Channel Offers Gays One-Way Ticket Out of Russia; And More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…at’ to Polish identity.” Russia: Orthodox TV channel offers to buy one-way tickets to help gay people leave country Tsargrad TV, a channel affiliated with right-wing Russian Orthodox activists and modeled after Fox News, offered to pay for a one-way ticket overseas for gay people who want to emigrate. The channel was funded by Konstantin Maofeev, a billionaire known as “God’s oligarch” who dreams of Vladimir Putin becoming a Tsar. More from the BB…