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Census Reveals Gay People are Shockingly… Normal

…the facts get in the way of a good lie and have vowed to continue their efforts to keep discrimination against gay people in place. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, addressed the same-sex marriage issue during an interview on the CBS program 60 Minutes, urging policymakers not to tamper with the definition of what he termed “authentic marriage.” “I love my mom, but I don’t have the right to marry her,” said the archbishop, whose national public profi…

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New Research Links Spiritual-Not-Religious to Mental Disorder

…ugh genetics, psychosocial trauma, or a mix of both, are likely to feel comfortable or to be made welcome in traditional religious settings. Those suffering with psychological conditions, says King, “may reject organized religion, or they may seek existential meaning for their distress in spiritual matters. It is hard to assess causality.” The relationship, that is, may be a matter of selection, with those more vulnerable to psychological distress…

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As Tensions Escalate in the Balkans, the West Could Hand Putin a Valuable Weapon

…ce also offers Russia and other reactionaries a valuable weapon in their efforts to win new converts, allowing them to argue that there’s a “hidden history” of Christian persecution and suffering that’s being kept from them. And there’s evidence that these efforts are already afoot. Early in 2021 the National Catholic Register, a conservative publication, ran a piece entitled “The Silent Persecution of Christians in Kosovo,” which, while undeniabl…

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UPDATED: Oklahoma Personhood Bill Not Dead…

…e for their unwillingness to put their reassurances in writing, proposed a number of amendments. So did other legislators, such that by the time SB-1433 was scheduled to be voted on, it was groaning under the weight of amendments.  But the real turnaround came when Speaker Steele proposed an amendment to an amendment that, in essence, would have given teeth to the reassurances that the Oklahoma bill would do no more than the Missouri language. Tha…

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Trump’s “Muslim Ban” A Gift to Terrorists

…eland Security to build a wall along the Mexican border and increasing the number of border officers, the president signed an executive order that, according to the New York Times “suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.” The re…

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Religious Practices on Trial in Arizona: The Problem With “Experts”

…us the “Octomom,” and experts on the meaning of the biblical decree to “go forth and multiply” have TV viewers goggle-eyed over the nearly score of Duggar children in Arkansas. In following the Ray story over the past few months, I am amazed at the number of non-Indian sweat lodge experts the media has been able to locate. Few Indians if any have been interviewed; and even decidedly liberal MSNBC featured Court TV anchor Ashleigh Banfield as their…

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Swimming Against the Tide: Religious (Non) Affiliation Might Not Mean What You Think It Means

…ed primarily as a shift in cultural assumptions—that people are more likely to say “nothing in particular” unless they have a good reason to identify otherwise when asked about their religious predilections. Pew’s forthcoming reports will provide greater depth to understanding the nature and significance of these changes. The release of these initial numbers makes one thing clear: the water is changing, and fast….

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3 Reasons Catholic Bishops Are Holding Their Tongues on GOP Health Care Debacle

…not to … preventing birth.” But, as New York Times reports, under Trump a number of anti-contraception activists have been given prominent roles in the administration. They are moving not just to finalize a rule that would allow any entity to opt-out of the contraceptive mandate for any reason, which has long been on the bishops’ wish list, but have a history of attacking contraception in general. Katy Talento, who is now a White House domestic p…

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YOU Are Spiritual But Not Religious: The Secret Spiritual History of the Choose Your Own Adventure Books

…at happens in this story!” The first book sold 8,000 copies, an impressive number for an independent press. The series was then bought up by Bantam Books and re-branded Choose Your Own Adventure in 1980. An initial marketing push gave 100,000 copies of The Cave of Time to librarians, who loved the concept and the effect it had of getting kids to actually sit down and read. Selling for $2.95 apiece, more than 50 titles were published over the next…

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Demonized and Demonizing No More.

…d between atheists and religious communities. Of course, there are still a number of people who are, if not entirely resistant to the ideas in the book, at least deeply suspicious about or don’t see much value in them. One thing I find valuable about Faitheist is that it moves atheism away from the kind of polemic that ends up focusing on truth claims in a very literal way and so mirrors the religious fundamentalisms it would like to dismantle. A…

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