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Modern Vampires: Your Neighbors and Spouses

By Joseph Laycock

…ant of at the time. Through the AVA, I began to find more contacts throughout the country and throughout the world. As it turns out, there are many groups of people who consider themselves to be ontologically different from normal humans. There are people who identify with angels, fairies, wolves, etc. By the end of my research I became convinced that this is a sizable community worthy of serious study. What’s the most important take-home message…

Welcome to the Shari’ah Conspiracy Theory Industry

By Sarah Posner

…slamofascism Awareness Week” events on college campuses, which were not about “freedom” but rather portraying those who don’t share Horowitz’s worldview as un-American.) Other players in this orbit include Martin Kramer, who at one time edited Pipes’ Middle East Quarterly and is now at the neoconservative Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Steven Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, a group founded in 2004…

UPDATED: Religion Has Been Framed; Covering the Aga Khan’s Visit

By Hussein Rashid

…ion in conflict is one that is not only favored by those who don’t know about the faith, but is also propagated by the extremists within a tradition. The easiest way to draw acolytes to a cause is to convince individuals that they are besieged and need to “circle the wagons.” The Saudi state, hardly the most impoverished people on Earth, uses the foil of Iran, or the Crusader Nation, or the Zionist Aggressor, to bind their people to Wahhabi ideolo…

New Reports Reveal Global Persecution of Nonbelievers

By Austin Dacey

…n of religious dissent online is being carried out not just by government authorities but also by private corporations. During the Innocence riots, for instance, Google restricted YouTube access to the video in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Libya, and Egypt despite the fact that its content does not violate YouTube’s hate speech policy, which recognizes hate speech against individuals but not the (highly problematic) category of hate speech against…

Americans Say Religion is “Losing Influence”

By Diane Winston

…s. Political protests along with cultural upheavals left many wondering about the future of traditional institutions. But during the Reagan years, and especially following 9/11, the significance of religion—its association with social stability, community cohesion, and traditional values—raised appreciation for its influence. The upshot? The perception of increased religious influence on American society is just a cataclysm away. Religion’s salien…

Sacred&Profane: The Living Dead

By Gary Laderman

…oked. There are ghosts and graves in the yards of my neighborhood, and the number of skeletons—reclining on lawn chairs, sprouting up from the ground, beckoning from the shadows—has transformed the suburban landscape into a set for a George Romero film. In addition, and beyond bland suburbia, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, vampires, and other playful dead inhabit stores and sell products, entertain across the television dial, and instill a dreadfull…

The Real Goal of Pro-Life Movement Support for Scott Brown: Kill Health Care Reform

By Sarah Posner

…d Sen. Brown must be seated without delay in the Senate. Any attempt to shut out Sen. Brown from the legislative process including preventing him from casting a vote on health care reform circumvents this election and clearly denies the will of the people of Massachusetts. . . . Elections have consequences and the Democrats must understand that the consequences of a Sen. Brown victory mean it’s time to put a stop to the flawed government-run, pro…

The 17th Century Roots of Roy Moore’s Refusal to Concede the Election

By Karen E. Park

…what we’ve got to do. And he inclined it to me, heard my cry, brought us out of a horrible pit out of clay and set my feet on the rock and established my goings and put a new song in our mouth. A hymn praising to our God. Many shall see it and hear it and shall be moved by that, if you will. Moore is “waiting on God” to deliver the Senate seat to him despite his clear loss because he does not believe in the democratic process. He hates democracy…

Travolta Airlifts Scientology, Supplies, to Haiti

By Becky Garrison

…pastoral care.” Their counseling services included promoting their hotline number on Fox News under the title “National Mental Health Assistance.” In 2002, Tom Cruise and executives from Scientology’s FASE (Foundation for the Advancement in Science and Education) launched “Downtown Medical” (also called “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project”). This facility offered FDNY firefighters and other recovery workers the opportunity to partake i…

Sacred&Profane: Wilco Worship and the “Churn” in American Religion

By Gary Laderman

…legion of fans though they have never had any major hits and do not sell out stadiums. But regardless of degree of popularity, something very special can happen at their concerts for fans, and the band itself, which requires a religious vocabulary to capture adequately. In a review of the recently released DVD concert, Ashes of American Flags, PopMatters columnist Michael Franco discusses the film’s somber depiction of a fading American landscape…