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Biblical Capitalism, Tony Perkins Edition

By Sarah Posner

…term behind the old English translation literally means “be occupied with business.” As with all parables, Jesus uses a common activity such as fishing or farming to provide a word picture with a deeper spiritual meaning. Occupied with multinational corporations and Wall Street hucksters? But here’s the kicker: The fact that Jesus chose the free market system as the basis for this parable should not be overlooked. When the nobleman returns, after…

Ritual Killing v. Factory Farming, or, Are There Roosters in Heaven?

By Meera Subramanian

…ens Allowed” sign. But what will those who pass the pearly gates eat, and will they say a blessing? Oh, and Bad Boyz Cutz? Back open for business as of last Monday, all charges dropped….

BYU Skinny Jean Controversy: Sexism, Sizeism, or Standards?

By Joanna Brooks

…had just come from a meeting with her LDS bishop to discuss congregational business. Apparently, the pants were not too tight to wear to a church meeting, but they still drew the enforcement attention of Testing Center employees. “There were skinny girls who were wearing tight pants who were getting admitted, but I’m curvy so my regular-fitting pants were a little bit tighter on me and he wouldn’t let me in. It was offensive and humiliating,” she…

Gingrich Signs Personhood USA Pledge

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…president, I don’t think he’d, like, allow the United States to go out of business and succumb to the mass anarchy of roving mobs by accident.” To which the person replied, “No, if Newt were president and that happened, it would be on purpose.” The guy’s not stupid, in other words. He’s smart enough that when he recently spoke in favor of a national personhood amendment at the Thanksgiving Family Forum, and then got flack for it, he clarified tha…

Republican Candidates Face Mythical Gays

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…according to that book called “The Bible.” The military seems to be in the business of breaking that one on a fairly regular basis. I imagine if being “sinless” were a requirement for military service, then we wouldn’t have to worry about a defense budget since the military wouldn’t exist. Then, it’s Michele Bachmann’s turn. After being confronted by an 8-year-old boy (in South Carolina, no less) who told her his lesbian mommy didn’t need changing…

Greek Abbot Arrested for Role in Financial Scandal

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…d deals brokered by this same monastery rocked the Greek government. These business-savvy monks had traded some relatively worthless land by a lake in north-central Greece; land that had been ceded to them by a Byzantine emperor centuries before for extensive real estate holdings in Athens, costing the Greek government (and the taxpayers) an estimated $130 million or more. It was unclear how the thing had been arranged, but the scandal led to the…

Santorum from the Religion Angle

By Sarah Posner

…in this alleged decline of “Christendom.” Abortion Don’t miss this instant classic from Sarah Morice-Brubaker, writing last June after Santorum said that exceptions to abortion bans to protect the health of the mother are “phony:” Now, I actually was there when the original plot was hatched, funnily enough: It was back in 1973, at the Women’s Exchange tea room in Eugene, Oregon. (To the public, it was billed as a Missionary Society presentation.)…

Creationists and Dawkins Agree: Science Rules Religion

By Paul Wallace

…solid science, would have dropped that whole embarrassing “kingdom of God” business quicker than you can say “clear-thinking oasis.” Because whatever it was Jesus was going on about there, it could not possibly have been as compelling as the “kingdom of facts,” as Peter Gomes once described science. Poor first-century bloke. He couldn’t help it; he didn’t know anything worth knowing. He didn’t know any science. Bergevin believes it; Dawkins believ…

Did the Pope Claim Gay Marriage as a Threat to Humanity or Didn’t He?

By Peter Montgomery

…humanity”: The pope is a Catholic; perhaps it’s in the nature of the news business to be freshly astonished by this fact every couple of months. It’s also true that the Vatican bureaucracy is arrogant, secretive, suspicious of outsiders, and given to the use of almost impenetrable jargon. Sometimes, as a journalist, you have to explain what they mean. But none of this explains, still less excuses, the claim that he had said gay marriage was a thr…

Missing the Forest for the Witches

By Joseph Laycock

…e on Paganism. By banning the categories into which minority religions are classified, the library’s policy appears to violate the Constitution’s establishment clause. By extension, it would be unconstitutional for any government agency to use Netsweeper to censor public access to “occult” sites. However, Netsweeper is a global corporation and thus not particularly concerned with the United States Constitution. In fact, much of their business come…