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The New Disciples: Report from South Carolina

By Sarah Posner

…searched the word forerunner on the internet, and the first result was the Kansas City International House of Prayer, the 24/7 prayer venue founded by evangelists Mike Bickle and Lou Engle, who is also the leader of anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-Muslim The Call revival rallies across the country. In 2002, the Kansas City IHOP was having a “forerunner conference,” Dalton said, “so I went halfway across the United States to find out what God was spe…

Milwaukee Archdiocese, Under Dolan, Paid Sex Abusers to Leave Priesthood

By Sarah Posner

…ensive interview with Clohessy at RD in March about efforts by the accused Kansas City priest and the Archdiocese of St. Louis to subpoena confidential records from SNAP. There, she wrote: While the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has denied that there is a national strategy for the Church to fight sex abuse cases more aggressively, even the Church’s staunchest defenders see the pattern. As William Donohue, the pugilistic president of…

“The Call” Warns of Antichrist Legislation in California and Beyond

By Sarah Posner

…ld Wal-Mart pharmacy employee from Houston, told me he spent a week at the Kansas City IHOP, where young people pray around the clock, which he called “powerful and life-changing.” (Antoine, who is African American, would not tell me who he was voting for but said he could not vote for a candidate who favored abortion rights.) IHOP “stirs young people,” Antoine told me, and “keeps them continuously alert about the end-times. So they can’t be distr…

As Trial Approaches, Accused in IHOP Murder Case Challenges Evidence

By Sarah Posner

…ed and a full investigation launched into Deaton’s death. According to the Kansas City Star, IHOP has denied that an “exorcism” took place, and maintains that the meeting was intended to “help” Deaton’s followers grieve Bethany’s death. (I have a source who was not at the meeting, but says “exorcism” was not a word IHOP would use; “deliverance” would be more like IHOP terminology. In any case, casting out demons and speaking in tongues are practic…

The NFL’s Prayer Problem

By Sarah Posner

…the two prayers aren’t “similar:” one is Christian, and one is Muslim. The Kansas City Star reports Abdullah is a “devout Muslim” who promised himself that if he scored a touchdown, “I’m going to prostrate before God in the end zone.” Last night, he was penalized for apparently violating Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1 (d) of the NFL rulebook (“players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations or demonstrations while on the ground.”) The leag…

Archbishop Drops the Girl Scouts Amid Alarmist Rhetoric and Fake Accusations

By Patricia Miller

…mentality that paved the way for Trump. Like dioceses around the country, Kansas City is funneling girls into American Heritage Girls, a “Christ-centered character development program for girls” that puts a premium on active opposition to abortion, including having girls participate in protests at abortion clinics. It’s in this way that opposition to abortion has become, for so many, a cultural marker of what’s good and bad, right and wrong in Am…

The Religious Implications of Nudity

By Steve A. Wiggins

…ance-enhancing drugs. The sense of freedom and fun (and free food, even if airline food) was exhilarating. The airport has now become a place of horror. Do they have full-body scanners? I wonder as I’m herded into a long, bovine line. Abattoir or boudoir? Why is this bothering me so much? Don’t Touch Me There Even cursory reflection reveals my embodiment issues are buried deep in my religious upbringing. I was a teenage fundamentalist. That remark…

‘Have a Blessed Day’ May Not Be a Sign of Christian Nationalism, But it’s Not Innocuous Either

By Chrissy Stroop

…’s argument fails to address crucial context. Describing yourself, or your city, as “blessed” (often, presumably, metaphorically) isn’t as clearly a Christian linguistic flourish as “have a blessed day” is. To reach that conclusion, all you have to do is look at who uses these distinct phrases, in which contexts, and why. They are simply not the same, and, again contra Mehta, “have a blessed day” is certainly not the same kind of knee-jerk phrasin…

What the Lost Finale is Really About

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…Lost moves from a state of disbelief and objectivity into a realm of complicity. In a recent New York Times interview, co-writer Damon Lindelhof suggests, One of the things that we completely own is that in many ways Lost is a mash-up/remix of our favorite stories, whether that’s Bible stories from Sunday school or Narnia or Star Wars or the writings of John Steinbeck. Carlton and I both had to take philosophy classes when we were in college, and…

Penn Jillette’s Signs You May Already Be an Atheist

By Steve A. Wiggins

…rust I have in the TSA before, Jillette’s rant in “Penn’s Bacon and a Kiss Airline” was like finding a long-lost brother; another guy who feels it is criminal to be viewed naked by strangers—involuntarily—is a true freedom fighter. This is a comedian with a conscience. He may come down on the wrong side of many traditional issues (global warming and sexual mores, e.g.), but he is keenly aware that too many people suffer. Theodicy in motion. In the…