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Patriotism and Piety—Not For Conservatives Only

By Ira Chernus

…aring. But it’s lousy strategy. If you want to win, you’ve got to have the best possible intelligence about what the other side is up to. Hierarchy, Loyalty, Sanctity If you listen to most conservatives, you’ll hear them saying one thing over and over: Let’s go to a religious worship service. For decades now, there’s been a clear statistical correlation: the more often you attend those services, the more likely you are to vote Republican. It’s an…

“My Scientology Movie” Pokes the Hornet’s Nest

By Gordon Haber

…sts. My Scientology Movie is the latest from Louis Theroux, who is perhaps best known for his BBC documentaries about fringe groups like black nationalists and ultra-Zionists. Theroux’s work is ostensibly about investigating and perhaps humanizing extremism. But more often it exemplifies a kind of deadpan eccentricity-tourism associated with another British journo-entertainer, Jon Ronson. Both Ronson and Theroux specialize in pretending to take cr…

Tucson, Like All Tragedy, is for Adults

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…District Court Judge John Roll was 63; why not imagine him as the arbiter best suited to give voice to the political meaning of Tucson? Dorothy “Dot” Morris was 76; so was Dorwin Stoddard. Phyllis Scheck was 79. Bill Badger, the man who first wrestled Jared Lee Loughner to the ground even after he had been shot himself, was 74. Even Gifford’s assistant, Gabriel “Gabe” Zimmermann, was 30. This was not a young crowd. But Christina Taylor Green was…

NOM Claims Victimhood for the Holidays

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…ir intolerance of me. For those family members, ignoring them is often the best thing to do. Leave the room when they start in on you. (I told my therapist I thought this was rude, but she reminded me that if I told a family member that I didn’t want to have this conversation and they persisted, it was really the obnoxious family member who was rude and I had every right to walk away after that.) Perhaps the best thing to do this holiday season—if…

Hearts and (Versus?) Minds: Bachmann’s Ultrasound Bill

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…ng to Bachmann, the goal here is to make sure that the woman has “the very best information with which to make that decision.” (Good thing she’s still about leaving the decision up to the woman, because otherwise she might be disheartened by evidence suggesting that viewing an ultrasound makes little difference in the outcome of that decision.) Yes, that’s the line on ultrasound bills. They give women some sort of necessary information. But why do…

New Spencer Book Denies Existence of Muhammad

By Hussein Rashid

…Muhammad knew that people were making things up and created checks and the best methodology that they could at the time to stop it. Modern scholars are revisiting the existing corpus with new tools and methods. Why a famous mosque inscription may refer not to Muhammad but, astonishingly, to Jesus. Stumped by this one. No idea what it refers to. How the oldest records referring to a man named Muhammad bear little resemblance to the now-standard Is…

Challenge to ‘un-Africanness’ of homosexuality; LGBT Catholics in Africa face church cooperation with persecution; lesbian cartoon project debuts in bangladesh under shadow of violence; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ition: Mr. Abbott, a conservative leader who is a polarizing figure at the best of times, is doing badly in the polls, two years after taking office. His position on same-sex marriage is only one factor, but it is one that analysts say goes to the core of his political vulnerability. “His issue is his inability to reach out beyond a core group of conservative voters,” said Jessica Elgood, a director at the polling firm Ipsos, who added that he had…

What This All-Star Christian Movie Gets Wrong About Christianity

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…spired by a movie in which Christian belief and behavior works out for the best for everyone. Presumably, that feels good; perhaps it gives them ideas for how they might live out their faith in the vastly more complicated real world. Ah, but that’s the real problem. “Do You Believe?” is not up to the task of helping its viewers discern the differences between its movie-version of the world, and the world they live in. And that’s a big deal precise…

For Love or Threat: Pro-Life Prayer Includes Names, Photos of Abortion-Rights Advocates

By Alana Massey

…s. When asked about the change, Scheidler says, “We searched for the three best photographs we could find because we wanted pictures where people would see the humanity of these people.” Throughout our conversation, he returned to the Christian tenets of compassionate understanding and the belovedness of all people before God, indicating a sincerity that often goes unnoticed in a movement frequently characterized by its violent history. But it is…

The Story of a Post-Holocaust Group Seeking Revenge Against Nazis is Part of the Story of Israel Itself

By Shane Burley

…Revenge is key to far-right rabbi Meir Kahane, Ben-Gvir’s hero. Kahane is best known in the U.S. for founding the Jewish Defense League, and who saw the establishment of a Jewish kingdom in the Land of Israel as commensurate with revenge against the Gentiles who had historically humiliated the Hebrews. In his view, Jews take revenge against their oppressors not only for their own redemption, but for God’s. “A Jewish fist in the face of an astonis…