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New Reports Reveal Global Persecution of Nonbelievers

By Austin Dacey

…umored to be circulating the Innocence of Muslims film trailer on his Facebook page. In a video blog, he spoke of the importance of exercising critical reasoning about religious matters. While in custody, Saber was slashed in the throat by razor-wielding prisoners after a guard told them of his “crime” and he was compelled to give false statements. The legal charges were “contempt of Islam and Christianity,” “insulting the divine,” and “satirizin…

Americans Say Religion is “Losing Influence”

By Diane Winston

…An interview with Siviku Hutchinson on the racial politics of atheism, a book review of The Bonobo and the Atheist, and Elizabeth Drescher’s ongoing coverage of nones underline the big tent approach to coverage of American ir/a/religion. But do the Gallup numbers point to new ways we might be thinking about business as usual? Two findings are striking. First: Gallup reported that although Americans felt religion’s influence was declining, many—75…

Sacred&Profane: The Living Dead

By Gary Laderman

…ious reflections, but the Halloween season this year has me particularly spooked. 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…

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

By Sarah Posner

…to anyone who understands how they operate — is that Scott Brown is their tool for killing health care reform. He’s hardly their new star. Brown got a couple of endorsements from anti-abortion groups, but the big guns stayed on the sidelines. That’s because even though Brown opposes health care reform (and opposes abortion funding in health care reform), he supports Roe v. Wade. From his campaign web site: Abortion While this decision should ultim…

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

By Karen E. Park

…y Tuesday night, after his surprising but solid defeat by Doug Jones, Roy Moore refused to concede. Even in Alabama, ground zero for voter suppression, mysteriously broken voting machines in poor black neighborhoods, and every attempt to keep citizens likely to vote blue from exercising that right, old fashioned democracy prevailed. Doug Jones eked out a narrow victory, and Judge Roy Moore lost fair and square. But he didn’t concede. Moore’s short…

Travolta Airlifts Scientology, Supplies, to Haiti

By Becky Garrison

…nisters and some supplies and some medics.” Travolta is not the only Scientologist who is clear about the need to provide services to Haiti. According to a press release issued by the Church of Scientology, “Teams of Scientology Volunteer Ministers from throughout the U.S., Mexico, Europe and elsewhere will provide administrative and organizational support to the medical teams, distribute supplies, and provide trauma relief and grief counseling to…

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

By Gary Laderman

…of the most obfuscating, irritating, and limiting words bandied about by too many in public discourse: faith and faith communities. In the land of no religion, faith, as a domesticated catchword for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus of every stripe and strand, is out the window. When faith, affiliation and tradition no longer apply, the possibility for religious life is not dead but remains vital and viable. Without a religion to ti…

Change v. Change at NPR

By Warren Throckmorton

…Briefly, Alix Spiegel interviewed Rich Wyler, founder of Journey into Manhood, and Peterson Toscano, a man who went spent 17 years in an unsuccessful effort to change his orientation. Schumacher-Matos correctly points out that much of the negative reaction centered on the presentation of Wyler and Toscano as representative of two sides of a current debate in psychology. In fact, the official pronouncements of the mental health professions are cle…

U.S. Bishops Reject Pope Francis’ Priorities

By Patricia Miller

…same-sex marriage. First, the bishops voted for a list of priorities that looks exactly like their list from every other recent meeting: evangelization (“a personal encounter and relationship with Jesus”), family and marriage (promotion of the “traditional” family), human life and dignity (opposition to abortion and euthanasia), vocations and ongoing formation (shoring up the rapidly declining number of priests and nuns) and, of course, religious…

Jesus Christ and Super Stars: How The Holy Rolled Mainstream in Pop Music

By Alana Massey

…xplain the shape of struggle and love in the world as they experience it. Soon after the release of a Justin Bieber profile in Complex last year the internet exploded in mockery at a quote that emerged from the interview: “Like I said, you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian. If you go to Taco Bell, that doesn’t make you a taco.” Bieber detractors are quick to pounce on such low-hanging fruit as evidence of his dimwittedness. What was mis…