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Jesus Said Punch Up, Not Down: Why William Barber’s Attack on the Religious Right May Not Be What It Seems

By Daniel Schultz

…ith—that government programs are an ineffective means of poverty relief at best, and at worst, a counter-productive or even predatory response to the poor. When I say “an article of faith” here, I am not being critical: there are many American Christians who believe that taxes are theft, government hurts more than it helps, and that the right way to address poverty is through religious charity only, not public policy. People like Rev. Barber and I…

Is Bill Barr’s Belief in a Powerful President Actually Religious? A ‘High Papal’ Fable

By Ivan Strenski

…Holland also claims seven novels to his name, several TV documentaries, a number of radio broadcasts, a play or two, and a translation of Herodotus’s Histories, all the while holding down a staff position with The Guardian. Taken as a whole, Holland’s entire oeuvre seems a colossal myth-making enterprise geared to reintroducing the West to its own formation. Taken in itself, Dominion often maddeningly, sometimes entertainingly, rambles through tw…

American Jews: From Holocaust to New Age Hasidism?

By Martin Kavka

The best Jewish thinking is conscious of being rooted in a certain historical moment. When theology is simply disinterested commentary on a textual tradition, there is nothing to give it ballast with a reader. But when theology presents itself as commentary for an audience that (so the theologian says) needs this commentary now, then it can transform a community. One of the most widely known bits of modern Jewish theology is Emil Fackenheim’s art…

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

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…ation. But why does the cardiac activity of the fetus constitute “the very best information,” the sine qua non necessary for informed consent? Because, I mean, lots of other information could arguably be pertinent to the decision. Off the top of my head, possibly-pertinent information could include things like the fetus’ or mother’s prognosis if it’s a medically risky pregnancy. “All the information” might include the costs of caring for the child…

Heaven On Earth: A Non-Hysterical History of Shari’ah

By Haroon Moghul

…. The fundamental challenge is the same one that everyone else faces: how best to live alongside people who hold different beliefs. That calls for mutual respect—and though that imposes society-wide responsibilities, Muslims can play their specific part by drawing on their communal history. Tolerance and diversity have been valued by Islamic scholars for more than a thousand years, and Muslim institutions have flourished alongside those of other…

New Spencer Book Denies Existence of Muhammad

By Hussein Rashid

…ad’s existence. Which is it? Anyway, if you read the Gnostic Gospels** and look at the Gospels, there are very different versions of the life of Jesus. Talmudic stories are also very different from Torah studies. Is it really a surprise that people take stories and make them mean things to themselves? The many indications that Arabian leaders fashioned Islam for political reasons. Duh. Constantine, David, Solomon, etc.. Welcome to the wonderful wo…

Country Music Minus the Culture Wars: A Lesson from a Legend

By Paul Harvey

…and established emissary posts there). Historically, Southern music at its best—the bluesmen, the Carter family, Charlie Poole, and the corpus of the old, weird America—simply could not be tied down to any particular political message or program. This music was about a world beyond one’s control. Its occasional bromides or homilies were not nearly as convincing as its unforgettable portrayals of the darker difficulties of survival in a harsh and u…

How “Mindfulness” Lost Its Mind

By Thomas Joiner

….g., health, education) but: a) it is no miraculous panacea even under the best of conditions; and b) it can be pernicious when mixed with a focus on the self; selflessness is part of the essence of mindfulness, and self-focus perverts it. Regarding its being a panacea, I show in the book how even the best-designed, most robust research on mindfulness is overhyped. Regarding the pernicious effects of self-focus, those are general in a species that…

Will Mindfulness Change the World? Daniel Goleman Isn’t Sure

By Jay Michaelson

…ologist for the TED Talk set. And his new book, Focus, is a New York Times bestseller. But before any of that fame, Goleman was a hardcore Buddhist meditator—and remains one today. His early books were about the development of the contemplative path, and throughout his work has run the theme of how meditative practice, in secular or spiritual contexts, can lead to greater happiness and peace—and conversely, how the disconnects in our own minds can…

TLC Premieres Polygamy Reality Show Sister Wives

By Joanna Brooks

…The show opens with shots of goatee-sporting blonde Kody Brown wearing his best pin-striped suit and sitting at the wheel of his white Lexus convertible, then cuts to shots of Kody Brown bopping around under a big white tent at a wedding reception, encircled by a passel of blonde wives and blonde kids, as Brown’s voice-over intones: “My name is Kody Brown, and you’ve gotta meet my family. I like marriage. . . . And I’m a repeat offender.” What fol…