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Fake Rabbi Showdown

…Waldman, however. Though blowing the shofar (a curved piece of ram’s horn used like a trumpet) is usually reserved for the Jewish High Holy Days, Waldman now blows his at every opportunity. He has done so for Unification events across Asia and Europe, occasionally referring to his patron as “Rabbi Moon.” What’s in it for him? As he explained it at the time, he had been single when he first crossed paths with the Unification Church. But then, he s…

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Gay-Bashing the Religious Right’s Forever Issue

…The law of the land is marriage between and man and a woman and that needs to be upheld.” Freshman Republican Mike Pompeo of Kansas chimed in, “we cannot use military to promote social ideas that do not reflect the values of our nation.”…

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Can Christians Lie? How Conservative Evangelical Bible Interpretation Has Shaped ‘Truth’

…, we’ve come to expect routine deception from the President—as well as, to use the more technical term from Philosophy, “bullshit.” But what about dissembling from the White House spokesperson, a known evangelical Christian whose Southern Baptist preacher father Mike Huckabee advised her “to be honest” as the press secretary—or other Christians serving in the Trump Administration? Could a Christian lie? Obviously, Christians can lie—like other hum…

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Some Christian and Muslim Leaders Urging ‘No’ Vote in Australian Mail Ballot on Marriage Equality; and More in Global LGBT Recap

….” “Not touching the current laws leaves the door open for these groups to use that against members of our community in Tonga,” he said. In Samoa, sodomy between men could mean a jail sentence of up to seven years and there has been criticism in the past, particularly from church leaders, at efforts to change the law. The report quotes Paula Garber of the Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation: Convictions are rare but Paula Gerber of the gay rights…

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Even After an Obama Victory Reports of the Death of the Religious Right are Greatly Exaggerated

…has been a surprisingly vibrant discussion surrounding the potential redundancy of the phrase ‘frozen tundra.’ The New York Times’ sports pages reported on Lake Superior State University’s eagerly awaited List of “Words Banished From the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness, 2003 edition,” which banished ‘frozen tundra’ for being redundant (missing the irony, perhaps, that this isn’t a word, it’s a phrase). LSSU’s 2004 edit…

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Election Day: Hope, Heartbreak, Naiveté, and Studs Terkel

…n order to affect the election. On the state level, too, religion is being used to promote discrimination: Proposition 8 in California seeks to annihilate gay marriage rights, though they have been confirmed by the California Supreme Court, by amending the California Constitution. The Prop. 8 campaign has effectively played on fear and the ingrained religious notions of marriage that most people retain, no matter what religion—or even lack of reli…

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Bad Karma: Life Lessons From Earl

…presented in its internal practices and foreign policies the commitment to freedom that fuels its rhetoric. And, while we’re at it, we might throw into the mix some attention to our materialism and its awkward and distorting presentation. There is something useful in examining the policies and practices of our nation and demanding that we live the best of our ideals. And, if My Name Is Earl sparks that type of exchange, I won’t complain. My name i…

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DeSantis is More Polished and Less Bombastic Than Trump — But is He Less of a Threat to Democracy?

…ists anonymously. Even if DeSantis were to replace Trump, it wouldn’t be cause for celebration because, as Sharlet correctly observes: “DeSantis doesn’t represent a break with fascism. He doesn’t even represent a break with Trumpism. Trump, the person? Perhaps. But ‘Trumpism’ is what we’ve been calling this particular American version of fascism, which DeSantis embodies as much as anyone.” As a trained historian and scholar of fascism, I have bad…

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Popesplaining: Women Remain “Strawberries” in Francis’s Book on Happiness

…ia to keep up with the latest political disasters isn’t making us feel any better. Twitter use is correlated with greater rates of anxiety, and Facebook contributes to depressive mind states. So what does the Pope tell us to do in order to be happier? Mostly, it involves praying more. To be fair, Francis’ emphasis on the marginalized comes through even in his ideas about happiness. Of the Beatitudes, which tell us the most blessed are those who su…

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Graeme Wood on ISIS: No Such Thing as Objective Critique

…described the ‘Islamic State’ as “not Islamic” it was not necessarily because of a lack of understanding of the group, but because of an awareness of the power of his words to affect the lives of the millions of Muslims in America. Wood does not acknowledge the power his words have in constructing the “reality” they depict. That is, he is not simply describing the Truth, but helping to construct it. In her essay “Representing Fundamentalism: The…

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