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Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife

…houris, dark-eyed women. We all know that Mohammad Atta, who flew American Airlines flight 11 into the Twin Towers on 9/11, was inspired by this promise. But among progressives, the sex promised to the righteous in the Qur’an isn’t sex as we know it, but something mysterious and sublime for which sex is a poetic stand-in. Second, what happens to our bodies in heaven? This is my favorite part of the heaven conversation. For if you believe in heaven…

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Haiti and the Push for Theological Questions

…nine on the Richter scale. It devastated the population. Estimates of the number of people killed range from 10,000 to 100,000. At the time the quake struck, worshipers filled the churches honoring their dead. The churches, the worshippers, and the city around them were effectively destroyed. Not long after the major quake hit, a tsunami followed that killed those who had rushed to the beaches in fear to avoid the havoc of the earthquake. The cat…

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Aasif Mandvi on Islamophobia, Acting, and the Long Shadow of Jon Stewart

…out? Anything to make a social impact?” I had been on the Daily Show for a number of years at this point, and spoken to a lot of Islamophobes, people who had a lot of misinformation about Islam and Muslims. It was a personal thing to me, and it was an issue I thought I could lend my voice to in a satirical space. Were there any particular misconceptions or fears you wanted to address? There was a lot of stuff about Shari’ah Law, the protests again…

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Another Manufactured Outrage: Rep. Ilhan Omar Did Nothing Wrong in Listing Hamas, Israel, and U.S. Together

…more effective if it were honest. And perhaps that would have lessened the number of death threats and other vile correspondences she has received. Second, others have said that she deserved the criticism for its political harm, that this hurts the Democratic party. Perhaps, but that doesn’t make much sense either, because the manufactured outrage made it worse. If a Democratic leader had privately contacted her and said, “Ilhan, you have to clari…

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The 17th Century Roots of Roy Moore’s Refusal to Concede the Election

…clear violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment and any number of Supreme Court cases. He was removed again last year for refusing to uphold federal law on same sex marriage, on the grounds that it was in violation of God’s law as found in the Old Testament. Like Winthrop, Moore believes that the Old Testament should order American society, whether Exodus or Leviticus. The ancient Israelites in these societies either adhered, or…

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Diplomatic Suckerhood: Why Israel Is Fighting Toward its Own Demise

…de.” That’s a bizarre exaggeration. In fact, the administration is also focusing on what the Arab countries should be doing: moving toward normalized ties with Israel. And even were those demands not being made, the idea that a nation with far more military power than any of its neighbors is being “driven to its knees,” simply because people want them to stop expanding settlements (which are illegal in the first place) seems out of touch with real…

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Sex and the Chosen People: Be Fruitful and Multiply, Etc.

…of innovative thinking about gender, sex, and sexuality, who could marry a number of different lenses to create something new. It’s not a strictly academic work by any means; it’s meant to be accessible to people with all sorts of (and no) Jewish backgrounds—hence the glossary in the back. But yeah, there are footnotes. For someone not well-versed in Jewish feminist theory, how transgressive or radical are these essays? Some of them push the envel…

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What Do ‘The Christians’ Believe? Easter Reflections from a Non-Christian

…aken a vow of celibacy and are accused of sexually abusing children and misusing their power. Although it is not yet clear how Pope Benedict XVI will deal with these charges in the long run, his recent homily referring to the “petty gossip of dominant opinion” glossed over the seriousness of this scandal and what role, if any, he had in how the situation was mishandled at the Vatican, reminding his followers about the true mission of the church an…

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Loving Uganda to Death: The Global Reach of Far-Right Christian Hatred

…’s funeral, when the presiding pastor began denouncing homosexuality and causing a commotion, Senyonjo went to Kato’s graveside with the activist’s friends and assured them that God knew and loved David, and knows and loves them. Williams spends a good amount of time with cheerful young IHOP missionaries who are sent to Uganda for a few months. They are having the adventure of a lifetime while serving orphans and preaching Jesus to people on the s…

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Death With Dignity: Combatting Religious Opposition to Physician-Assisted Suicide

…doctrinal statements from Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists and a good number of other traditions, but individuals may not feel those are binding, or they may feel their circumstances are exceptional,” he said. The Catholic Church hasn’t shifted its policies regarding end-of-life care, said Dierdre McQuade, and she explained that the difference between palliative sedation and physician-assisted death is intent. Even in the case of increasing m…

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