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God Grows Up: Robert Wright’s Evolution of God

By Robert Wright

…away with these things in the first place when you live with a very small number of people. 2) That ancient Israel was monotheistic from the get-go. I don’t think monotheism emerged until the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BCE—nearly half a millennium after King David and way, way after Moses and Abraham supposedly signed on to monotheism. 3) That Jesus said “Love your enemy” and espoused universal love. I think the emphasis on a love that c…

Feared Taliban Leader Killed, But Military Strategy is Not the Answer in Afghanistan

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…estroy. Like the North Vietnamese, many Afghan activists—and an increasing number of Pakistanis—are motivated to fight against the American presence because of their love of freedom. They see the US military, like the Soviet forces before them, as a foreign occupying power. The Taliban, as draconian as they may be, are seen as enemies of the enemy: us. It is the US military presence, paradoxically, that is uniting the Taliban and marshaling wide p…

Do Not Arrest the Pope: New Atheists’ Call for the Pope’s Arrest Isn’t Likely to Produce Justice

By Eric Reitan

…e Pope, launch their own civil action against him or refer his case to the International Criminal Court.” What will be the effects of these efforts? My answer, in brief: Nothing good. To see why, consider the following. What happens when you combine the Church’s self-understanding (as the vessel in which God has entrusted His revelation to the world) and a history of enormous privilege and prestige, with the rise of secularism and the concomitant…

RDBook: Whither the Religious Left?

By Bill Berkowitz

…ve religion and politics, and he has been interviewed by many national and international media including CBS Evening News, ABC’s 20/20, the BBC (radio and television), and the Voice of America. Through a series of e-mail exchanges, we discussed the current state of the Religious Right, the growing influence and media presence of Pastor Rick Warren, efforts made by the Obama campaign to court evangelicals, and how an authentic Religious Left can wi…

Funding of Creationist Organizations Doubles

By Lauri Lebo

…esis remains the big boy in the business, far ahead of Creation Ministries International (from which AIG split a few years ago) and Institute for Creation Institute. AIG is the owner of the Kentucky-based Creation Museum, which features saddle-wearing dinosaurs and a recreation of Noah’s Ark built to biblical scale. Sadly, the gross revenue of National Center for Science Education, the primary defender of public education from anti-science attacks…

Condoms and Common Sense

By Frances Kissling

…procreation as the only legitimate expression of human sexuality. Caritas International, the official Vatican umbrella for poverty eradication, including AIDS work, welcomed the Pope’s remarks; but Msgr. Robert Vitillo, the Special Advisor on HIV and AIDS immediately added: “I would like to… emphasize my strong conviction that the Church’s teaching, which insists on sexual abstinence outside marriage and lifelong, mutual fidelity within marriage,…

Homosexual Thoughts and Feelings Not a Sin, Says New LDS Handbook

By Joanna Brooks

…to refer members to practitioners of reparative therapy such as Evergreen International. Reparative therapy has been discredited by scientists and professionals and, in some instances—including the electroshock aversion therapy prescribed by BYU-affiliated practitioners in the 1970s—exposed as abusive. 4. Adds the counsel that LGBT members who remain chaste should be “supported” and “encouraged” by Church leaders and be included in every dimensio…

Focus on the Family Cashes in on Anti-Gay “Day of Truth”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…relative peak a couple of months ago, leading “ex-gay” organization Exodus International dropped its sponsorship of the annual “Day of Truth” designed to counter the “Day of Silence” observed by gay kids and their allies at schools around the country. At the time, Exodus cited the “Day of Truth” activities as too divisive in an atmosphere where kids were being bullied to death for their sexual orientation. Have no fear, though, because the Focus o…

Islam in Conflict with Democracy? A Response to Stanley Fish

By David True

…ngly supported Measure 755 in last week’s elections, forbidding the use of international and Shari’ah law in state courts. A week earlier, literary theorist Stanley Fish penned a piece for the New York Times exploring the conflicts that emerge when Muslim immigrants to Western nations “evidence a desire to order their affairs, especially domestic affairs, by Shari’ah law rather than by the supposedly neutral law of a godless liberalism.” Fish is w…

Robertson’s Organizations Persist in Calls for Probe of Congressional Muslim Staffers

By Sarah Posner

…t the only source for the story was Jordan Sekulow, the ACLJ’s Director of International Operations. “The media didn’t want to report this,” Sekulow asserted, claiming they feared being called Islamophobes or bigots if they reported that the CMSA was hosting terrorist speakers. “When we started talking about this,” said Sekulow, “immediately the left and the kind of pro-Islamic world immediately cries bigot and says, why do you want to investigate…