How Christian Theology Created the Need to Assert that Black Lives Matter
The Republican Party’s primary race is filling up with candidates crusading against “wokeness,” particularly in…
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In its Battle for ‘Life’ the Antiabortion Movement is Willing to Expose its Enemies to Death — And There’s an Old Christian Theology that Supports Them
The recent Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the FDA’s approval of mifepristone presents itself—in…
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Fear, Guns, and the (Unwinnable) War Against Death: A Letter to My Fellow Americans
I’ve been crying when I drop my six-year-old daughter off at school. It happens whenever…
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Do Dogs Have a Soul?: Taking “Creaturely” Life Seriously
The hottest news in animal life right now is a story about “religious” chimpanzees. A…
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Christian Charity Meets Its Match: If You Missed “The Overnighters,” Here’s Why You Should See It Now
Anyone who saw last year’s standout documentary, Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters, probably noted a brief, sober coda to…
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If Apes Could Talk to Atheists
The famed primatologist’s latest book is a conversation about the common ground among atheists and bonobos, both of whom make it clear that religion has, lamentably and unjustifiably, been given credit for human morality.
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Francis Now and Then: The Ecological Politics of Saints
Today we are a great distance from the ecological situation of medieval Italy. With the aid of capital and industry, we humans have become so practiced, and coldly efficient, in matters of animal domestication that we now have health insurance on offer for wealthy domestic pets while billions of other creatures in our care are heedlessly slaughtered. Our domestication practices are a mess.
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Beloved Immortals: Science, Miracles and ‘Jellyfish Time’
A recent piece by novelist Nathaniel Rich focused on eccentric Japanese researcher Shin Kubota, who studies the “immortal jellyfish.” But what are we after when we seek immortality? And does this quest tell us more about us than the natural world?
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A Superhuman Spirituality: Ang Lee’s Life of Pi
“I have a story that will make you believe in God,” an elderly man tells the narrator of Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi (2001). This is the opening of a very tall tale, one that’s designed to chasten the reader’s skepticism.
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Pussy Prophets & Nuns on Buses: Will Feminist Politics Get More Holy & Foolish?
It’s simpler to assume that religion and feminism are at odds; that religion is simply the provenance of those who use tools like pro-life politics to fight feminist agendas. It’s much more complicated to think of religion as both resource and adversary in the political struggles that feminists face.
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