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What Can Fascination With ‘Sister Cindy’ Teach Us About the ‘None’ Generation?

By Chad Bauman

…ful conservative religious people would likely be concerned to discover—to use Christian language—that the scandal of the gospel has largely lost the power to scandalize (an enervation for which they themselves are, in my view, largely responsible). And if religion indeed no longer has this power, then we may perhaps imagine that religion of the kind that made real claims on and demands of people is heading, like that elderly aunt, rather headlong…

Yes, It Can Be Hard to Be an Atheist in America; Now We Have the Data

By Chrissy Stroop

…o get at “a coming out experience,” though the survey deliberately did not use that language in order to avoid possible confusion. Asked whether she thinks the phrase “coming out” belongs only to the LGBTQ community, Gill remarked, “I would vehemently disagree with that; I think it belongs to everybody. And I see a lot of similarities between being nonreligious and being LGBT.” She stressed that this does not mean that the stigma and discriminatio…

Ultra Orthodox Murder-Suicide Makes Headlines

By Shalom Goldman

…an on a Tel Aviv street and then turned his gun on himself, was trained to use a gun. In fact he had been working as a security guard. Among Israeli Jews, for whom there is universal military conscription, this type of work would not have been at all unusual, but among the ultra-Orthodox it was striking. For under Israeli law the ultra-Orthodox are exempt from the draft. All Haredi men and women are free from the responsibility of spending years i…

Palin Cries ‘Blood Libel’: Can Words Harm Us?

By Susannah Heschel

…eace and prosperity for all, not just for ourselves. Palin’s insistence on freedom seems to suggest freedom for oneself, without assuming any responsibility for others; a perspective that would create a wild realm in which each person looks out for herself, not for the collective. Yet again, that is not the message of the Bible. When God points out immoral behavior, it is of the collective people, not individuals. The prophet Amos condemns the cri…

Don’t Be Fooled By Trump’s Acceptance of Marriage Equality: Here’s What to Expect

By Sunnivie Brydum

…alleged “failure” to adhere to societally imposed gender norms. Desanctis betrays her own ideological preferences by setting up a false dichotomy between trans rights and “religious liberty.” She inaccurately portrays North Carolina’s HB2 as a simple law allowing “businesses to determine their own rules regarding bathrooms and [establishing] rules for bathrooms in government buildings.” She does not mention the fact that under HB 2, trans women t…

So What if Psychedelics Are ‘Just’ Spiritual?

By Hollis Phelps

…it’s pretty much a commonplace among many researchers that the intentional use of psychedelics in certain environments (what users and researchers refer to as “set and setting”) can mimic and perhaps even produce authentic mystical experiences. Indeed, many who take psychedelics do so mainly for what they consider to be the spiritual benefit of the experiences they offer. Using psychedelics isn’t so much recreational, in this sense, but a controll…

Bart Stupak’s Demand: What It Would Mean

By Sarah Posner

…is claiming that it now has the votes of 43 House Democrats against the House health care reform bill, unless it adopts the provisions it seeks barring the use of federal funds for abortion. “[A]t last count, we have … commitments from about 43 members who said they would support Stupak and basically bring down the health care bill unless his amendment is offered,” DFL executive director Kristen Day told the conservative site CNSNews.com. Day cla…

Mass Conversion: Changing Churches to Stop the Church From Changing

By Elizabeth Drescher

…copal churches functions less to “bridge and heal a wound that has existed between Rome and Anglicanism for nearly five hundred years” than as a salve for the sting of change that continues apace in every religious institution—the Roman Catholic Church included? Is the fantasy at work in the Maryland congregation’s appeal to the magisterial authority of the Roman Church is that changing churches can somehow stop the church from changing? Inventing…

The ‘Charlie Charlie Challenge’ and Teenage Yearning for Supernatural Encounters

By Joseph Laycock

…arlie as a demon appears only to make him more appealing. Ellis notes that use of the Ouija board has a structure similar to exorcism, in which an entity is called forth, named, questioned, and then dismissed. The Charlie Charlie challenge eschews some of these elements because the conjured entity is already identified and the game/ritual does not allow for open-ended responses. And yet the ritualistic opening and closing remain. Players emphasize…

Studies Confirm: Your Steak is Possessed by Demons

By Travis Proctor

…he philosopher believed that animal meat is infested with evil demons that use sacrificial meals as a conduit to corrupt the human body. Once inside the body, Porphyry asserts, these demons use the human digestive system to glut their appetites, emitting harmful gasses as they digest the meat. The telltale sign of demonic infection is uncomfortable bloating, flatulence, and belching. For Porphyry, then, burps at the dinner table weren’t just viola…