Search for "spirit airlines cheap tickets phone number 1-800-299-7264"

Illinois Bishop Greets Marriage Equality with Exorcism

By Peter Montgomery

…From the report in the Chicago Sun-Times: “I exorcise you, every unclean spirit, every power of darkness, every incursion of the infernal enemy, every diabolical legion, cohort, and faction, in the name and power of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paprocki said. “Be uprooted and put to flight from the Church of God from souls created in the image of God and redeemed by the precious blood of the divine lamb. “Dare no more, oh cunning serpent, to deceive…

Paul Crouch, Architect of Prosperity Gospel Televangelism, Dead at 79

By Sarah Posner

…could feel the anointing, too. They spoke in tongues and were slain in the spirit, but not too much if it wouldn’t play well on TV. The sad genius of it all was the orchestration to make the audience feel like a crucial part of something huge, something God wanted, something that God was going to bless many times over with miraculous riches and good health. Jan Crouch was there, without Paul. The audience heard of her healing from colon cancer, “n…

Religion without God: “Cults,” Pious Atheists, and Our Own Human Bodies

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…fficial definition of religion: “I would describe religion in summary as a spiritual or non-secular belief system, held by a group of adherents, which claims to explain mankind’s place in the universe and relationship with the infinite.” His philosophical orientation misses much, and reveals that there is a long way to go for rethinking religion on pluralistic grounds. Toulson is still assuming that religion is a disembodied “belief system,” a set…

The Creepy Surveillance of Elf on a Shelf

By Kelly J. Baker

…agic plausible. Writing on Santa, Nathan Schneider argues that the holiday spirit is mostly based on the irrelevance of proof. Evidence does not matter because Santa. Adults all know that Santa does not exist, yet lying to children about him is cultural expectation. Try explaining to someone, anyone really, that you want to opt of St. Nick for your kids. To put it mildly, it does not go over well. (I might have been accused of child abuse.) There…

Pigging Out: What ‘Radically Unkosher’ Jewish Foodies Like Michael Pollan Are Missing

By Jonathan Schorsch

…donism), and biodynamic farmers, whose movement grew out of the explicitly spiritual work of Rudolph Steiner, are quite comfortable with spiritual, cosmological language. Scholar Melissa Caldwell points out that in Russia, “‘natural foods’ philosophies represent the natural environment as a source of sociability and spirituality,” and Russians feel nature “not only produces but also nourishes and protects the Russian nation.” Personal gardening is…

On Whistleblowing, MLK, Jr., and the Politics of Resistance in the Digital Age

By Kevin Healey

…eurs who kept hold of techno-utopianism but infused it with an Ayn Randian spirit of capitalist individualism. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had both used LSD. Jobs claimed to be a Buddhist. But they accepted the logic of corporate capital. Digital networks would bring both wealth and liberation. Critics call this view the “Californian ideology.” Today, Silicon Valley is driven by advertising, and the disclosure and collection of personal data is the…

No to Church, Yes to Jesus?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…manists, and others among the religiously unaffiliated. Do Nones of a more spiritual leaning hunger for participation in religious and/or spiritual institutions that more boldly call for the sorts of practices Good Samaritan Jesus represents? Perhaps some do, but largely, not so much. Or, at least not in the ways religious organizations and religion researchers typically understand participation in religious institutions, in terms of sustained, ex…

“The Lord’s Standard of Morality” Promotes LDS Rape Culture

By Holly Welker

…re or narrative that feeds the carnal man within” and is “repulsive to the Spirit of the Lord;” and women must dress modestly because their clothes have “a powerful impact on the minds of men,” and because “in the end, most women get the type of man they dress for.” “Lust is motivated by disobedience, self-gratification, and lack of discipline,” Callister states after discussing all the sexual behavior righteous human beings must avoid. Really? Wh…

Will Righteous Mormons Still Get their Own Planets?

By Holly Welker

…—a much more euphemistic statement than the claim that “we are all literal spirit children of our Heavenly Father,” meaning that we were all conceived in the preexistence through some act of spiritual procreation. However guarded its wording, the essay does at least acknowledge LDS belief in a Heavenly Mother: “Latter-day Saints have also been moved by the knowledge that their divine parentage includes a Heavenly Mother as well as a Heavenly Fathe…

Promise Keepers Launches Effort to Support Messianic Jews in Israel

By Sarah Posner

…Himself, prayed that these Jewish believers would be unified with the vast numbers of Gentile believers, resulting in the world recognizing that He was truly sent by God.” The September 17 event, which will be held at an outdoor amphitheater outside the Old City walls, is called “Jesus Reigns,” and is part of Promise Keepers’ new “sister” ministry, “One Message,” which is not exclusively for men, spokesman David Jesse told me. The event, he said,…