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“Burka Avenger”: Pakistan’s Middle Class Gets a Feminist Cartoon

By M. Sophia Newman

…he identified burkas as “a tacit critique of the darker side of the modern spirit” and a way for Muslim women to maintain their identity while transitioning from rural traditions to industrialized urban living. “Burka Avenger,” in other words, may do more to encourage the large majority of Pakistanis already enjoying relatively strong education than to convince uneducated people of the value of schooling. Indeed, wealthier people may find it easie…

Material(ist) Girl: A Philosopher Argues Against the Soul

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…bat, dispensing with the idea that human beings have a soul—some ethereal spirit that inhabits each of us. It doesn’t seem to be. It’s hard to see how it could be given the dependency of personality, mood, memory and seeing and perception on the physical brain. Once that’s gone, what’s left? There really isn’t anything left. Except one can still have a sense of continuity with the wider universe while recognizing that the continuity is very biolo…

Pope Francis Distances Himself Further from the Right in New Interview

By Peter Montgomery

…It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing…. We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter,…

What The Church Needs More Than a ‘Good Pope’

By Mary E. Hunt

…ve Me Warm… The interview’s complexity arises from the overlay of Ignation spirituality that forms Francis’ spirit and psyche. It’s a language and symbol set all its own—heavy with “discernment” and reliant on prayer as a means of knowing. The interviewer tries to interpret it at times (who knew that Peter Faber [1506-46] was such an influential fellow?), but what stands out is how Francis is imbued with the customs and governance style of the Soc…

Spiritual (And Jewish), But Not Religious

By Martin Kavka

…ews who do not identify as religious claim to “believe in God or universal spirit” with absolute certainty, and when one adds in the proportion of interviewees who believe with less certainty, we have the fascinating statistic that almost half of “Jews of no religion” are nonetheless believers. On the other side of the coin, 20% of Reform Jews do not believe in God. What this suggests is that there is a disconnect between the way many Jews underst…

Cue the Mad Swine: A Biblical Lesson for Republicans

By Peter Laarman

…ones,” reads the text. Without hesitating, Jesus first summons the unclean spirit to leave the poor man in peace, but the possessed one immediate shouts back, “What have you to do with me? I adjure you by God: Do not torment me.” When Jesus asks the man his name, he replies, “My name is Legion; for we (the demons) are many.” What’s more, Demon Man seems okay with his situation; in verse 10 he implores Jesus not to send his demons away. But the de…

Stop Debunking Climate Change Deniers

By Michael Schulson

…ulevitz writes, “than of choosing your friends wisely.” In that diplomatic spirit, there’s a whole movement of thinkers devoted to environmental theology, and other reconciliations between environmentalist ideas and scriptural messages. Frankly, that effort seems too intellectual to appeal to most religious practitioners, but too broad in its interpretation and too predetermined in its hermeneutic goals for many intellectuals (although I’d be deli…

SCOTUS Tackles Government Prayer in Greece v. Galloway

By Becky Garrison

…] contained references to ‘Jesus Christ,’ ‘Jesus,’ ‘Your Son’ or the ‘Holy Spirit,’” concluded that it amounted to an “endorsement” of Christianity. Following this ruling, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a leading religious right legal organization, appealed to SCOTUS arguing that pastors should have the freedom to offer prayers in accordance with their religious tradition when speaking on behalf of the government. Upon initial glance, it s…

New Poll: ‘Faithful Catholics’ an Endangered Species

By Linda Woodhead

…hat a change of mind would undermine authority, and make it look as if the Spirit had been blowing through the Anglican rather than the Catholic Church. Paul VI agreed, and the result was a reaffirmation of the Church’s sexual teaching in Humanae Vitae (1968). The door to change slammed shut. Since then the Church has insisted that its sexual teachings are “irreformable.” But surveys are dangerous things. They raise expectations. And they play to…

An Independence Day Sermonette

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…“God is experienced […] in the likeness of corruptible man […] in the half-spiritual, half-material creations, exhibitions, and representations of His creative ability — Family, Nation, State, Church and Fatherland.” American culture worships the “No-Gods” of military might, money and capitalism, “family values,” “the war on terrorism,” and most especially its state form of piety clothed in conservative evangelical Christianity. The linking of a p…