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Fighting Demons, Raising the Dead, Taking Over the World

By Bruce Wilson

…adiums and arenas around the world joined in synchronous prayer. Haggard’s New Life Church and the adjacent World Prayer Center that was dedicated in 1998 were, for roughly a decade, the epicenter of an ongoing, radical redefinition of Christianity. One of its early board members became known to the secular world during the 2008 presidential campaign as an enigmatic Kenyan evangelist who, in 2005, had blessed Sarah Palin against witchcraft. Spirit…

It’s Up to You, New York… To Oppose Islamophobia

By Randall Balmer

…what I find deeply disquieting is a recent poll showing that a majority of New Yorkers oppose the project. Such sentiment is not worthy of New Yorkers, and it violates this city’s long tradition of religious tolerance, dating back to the early decades of the seventeenth century. When Jonas Michaëlius, the first Dutch minister in New Netherland, convened the first religious gathering in New Amsterdam in 1628, he commented on the religious diversity…

The New York Times Sunday Review has a Mormon Problem

By Joanna Brooks

…nism and its fascinating position in American political life: experts like Kathleen Flake of Vanderbilt (who is LDS) and Sarah Gordon of the University of Pennsylvania (who is not). It continues to be acceptable editorial practice at the New York Times to talk about Mormons as if we are not participants in national conversation—as if we’re not even in the room. Celebrity cultural critics with little to no working knowledge of Mormonism have acce…

Beyond Alarmism and Denial in the Dominionism Debate

By Anthea Butler

…e does, and really doing an extended sequence on some dream he had about Jerusalem. People were wandering out of the sanctuary, as I did, and I was chatting with a woman in the hall. She commented about she hadn’t seen him preach in a while. And she seemed pretty unimpressed with this one. I point this out only to emphasize how these individual players do not necessarily always enrapture the audience; I’ve seen this at various events. On the other…

Bishops Search for Condoms in Cookie Boxes

By Mary E. Hunt

…sk permission of ecclesial men to live as responsible citizens of a global world. Girl Scouts USA belongs to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, about ten million strong in 145 countries. In a July 2012 conference in Chicago, WAGGGS will discuss the UN Millennium Development Goals. Those include the elimination of poverty, universal primary education, gender equality, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health,…

Vatican Considers ‘Disordered’ Language; HBO Doc on LGBT Persecution in Russia; Nigerian Bishop Shifts on Anti-Gay Law; Arson at ‘Open Mosque’ in South Africa; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ylum because of his “non-traditional sexual orientation.” On Saturday, the New York Times reported that the fact that the boy “chose not to return home and sought asylum on the basis of his sexual orientation” had been confirmed by an “American official, who was not authorized to comment on the case and so spoke on the condition of anonymity.” Susan Reed, an attorney for the teen, disputed the Russian government’s claims, saying, “He is in federal…

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ramadan

By Haroon Moghul

…refer Ajwa dates, myself, [faux cough], especially when I’m on holiday in Musandam.’ Musandam is Arabic for ‘the Hamptons.’ As for actual dates (of the non-palm tree variety), as long as you ask her out from a distance—like ten feet from your mouth. Non-dictatorial Mubaraks (congratulations) to the guy who can get a girl to go out with him for not-coffee (he’s fasting) by asking her out while covering his mouth with one hand and using his other ha…

#OpenTheseDoors: A Movement to Turn New York’s Closed Churches into Shelters

By Kaya Oakes

…of the media coverage was focused on the emotional impact. Generations of New Yorkers had worshipped in some of these parishes, and knowing that community ties would soon fray and sever was a painful experience. Cardinal Dolan argued that the decision was “about the future” and “about strength and renewal,” but parishioners felt angry and betrayed. The archdiocese, after all, is the largest landowner in New York: what would be done with these pro…

Belize Overturns Sodomy Law Defended by Religious Right, Ugandan Officials Will Continue to Suppress Gay Groups, And More on the Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ommunity shattered by government campaign of entrapment and harassment The New York Times’ Liam Stack reports, “Gay and Transgender Egyptians, Harassed and Entrapped, Are Driven Underground.” The story contrasts the “period of unaccustomed freedom” for LGBT Egyptians in the final days of Hosni Mubarak’s government with a crackdown by the military government that “has shattered what had been an increasingly vibrant and visible community.” Between t…

The Religious Origins of Fake News and ‘Alternative Facts’

By Christopher Douglas

…se Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism (2012), where they explained, However awkward it may be for the traditional press and nonpartisan analysts to acknowledge, the Republican Party has become an insurgent outlier—ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence a…