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

By Daniel Silliman

…he House of Danger houses a counterfeiting ring, a secret organization for international peace, a paranormal hotbed of ghosts left over from the 1887 prison riot, or a spearhead of an alien invasion. Whatever happens, there’s never a dull moment. The disregard for established boundaries also happens to be a key part of the rejection of organized and institutional religion. As Schmidt writes, “journeying across the bounds of traditions, denominatio…

Fox News Controversy on Yoga and White Supremacy Reveals Problem of Yoga Discussion

By Andrea R. Jain

…alism, patriarchy, Islamophobia, and homophobia. Modi works closely with a number of allies to wed yoga to right-wing causes. Yogi Adityanath (Hindu nationalist and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh) responded to some Muslim protests of Modi’s International Yoga Day efforts with the suggestion that those who refuse to perform the sun salutations known as Surya Namaskar are traitors who ought to drown themselves in the ocean or leave India; Baba Ramd…

Exclusive: Religious Leaders for Immigration Equality for Gay and Lesbian Couples

By Sarah Posner

…ted partners of U.S. citizens who are gay or lesbian, is compiling a large number of religious leaders, organizations, and denominations, to sign on to a letter supporting the legislation. As I reported last year, UAFA would correct a glaring inequality in our current immigration law: there are 36,000 bi-national couples in the United States—same-sex couples in which one is a US citizen and the other faces possible deportation if a partner or spo…

No ‘Christian Compassion’ in Tony Perkins’ Response to Anti-Gay Bullying, Suicides

By Andrew Marin

…hristian, just like Tony Perkins. Mr. Perkins, you don’t speak for me or a number of conservative evangelicals who are worn out and sickened by the same old battle cry you believe we should join. Many ask today, why should we join one side and fight against the other? Each time it’s the same banal response: For no other reason than that we should just fall in line against what extreme public figures deem a societal evil worthy to be fought against…

The Muslim Loyalty Oath

By Hussein Rashid

…est of the Muslim community, which has made these arguments for years. The international Amman Message, for example, was issued in 2007, and the Islamic Center at NYU is a center based on the message. The Islamic Society of North America issued a similar statement in 2005. The difference between these endeavors and the Ahmadi community’s statement is that that these other messages are far-reaching, including as they do wide sections of the Muslim…

In Wake of Murder in Uganda, LGBT Group Protests Prayer Breakfast

By Kay Steiger

…zation. Pastor Scott Lively, president of a group called Defend the Family International, who is not connected to the Family but is considered an instigator of homophobia in Uganda, wrote on the group’s website: Ugandan homosexual activist David Kato was recently beaten to death with a hammer, a horrific crime. These very media have rushed eagerly to judge this a hate crime and to blame those, like me, who have spoken against homosexuality in Ugan…

Defending the Helpless: New Bible Highlights Poverty and Justice

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…nd injustice,” said Richard Stearns, president and CEO of World Vision, an international relief organization and collaborator on the Bible project. I’m not sure that it’s because the Bible is “outdated” that so many people can’t pick out scripture verses dealing with issues of poverty and justice. The poll really proves that the religious right has so thoroughly hijacked the real message of the Bible that when people quote passages about helping t…

American Nuns Under the Vatican Microscope

By Mary E. Hunt

…civil disobedience and goes to jail to help stop war or nuclear weapons. A number of the questions are clearly designed to elicit answers the Vatican knows full well it won’t like. The data will provide the pretext for concluding that the decline in numbers in progressive groups is a result of their lack of obedience and conformity to the men’s rules. Solution: tighten up the ranks. Enter the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, the alte…

Aung San Suu Kyi: The Verdict is Unfair

By Juliane Schober

…l ended in long prison sentences for all of the accused, and has triggered international outrage. Senator John Webb negotiated Yettaw’s release last week. General Than Shwe reduced Aung Than Suu Kyi’s sentence to a year and a half under continued house arrest. His act of leniency prevents her from playing a role in national elections scheduled for next year. Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma’s national martyr and founder of the armed force…

That Mercenary Feeling: What the Apparently Unlimited Use of “Contractors” Says About American Empire in Afghanistan and Iraq

By Peter Laarman

…ticularly like. He quotes Frederick Barton of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who tracks our country’s growing reliance on civilian mercenaries. Barton observes that “no one really knows whether having a force made up mainly of contractors whose salaries were often triple or quadruple those of a corresponding soldier or Marine was cheaper or more expensive for the American taxpayer.” Excuse me? “No one really knows”?? I’m not a…