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Seven-in-Heaven Way, Hybrid Pope, & “Chrislam”

By Michael J. Altman

…while, the Latter-day Saints are launching a million-dollar ad campaign in New York City. While the Crystal Cathedral has fallen on hard times, its Spanish language service is booming. A Malaysian reality show searches for the best preaching Muslim woman. In Tajikistan, the parliament is considering a bill to keep kids out of churches and mosques. Secularism is on the way out in Bangladesh. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has expelled a senior me…

Feminist Critics of Wearing Hijab in Solidarity Fall Into Same Old Traps

By Mariam Durrani

…al forms of violence. As a researcher who works with young Muslim women in New York City, some who wear the hijab and some who do not, it makes me squirm to hear the echo of arguments that surfaced in 2001: that the US must continue the war on terror in order to liberate and save Afghan women. But in the case of Nomani and Arafa, it is no longer as simple as a white imperialist nation seeking to rescue the brown, Muslim people from themselves. Her…

If Modesto’s Public Schools Can Teach World Religions, It Can Happen Anywhere

By Jonathan Homrighausen

…this course so successfully. Modesto is no Berkeley, no San Francisco, no New York. Modesto is known for its low literacy, high crime, and conservative religious and political temperament. The Modesto I grew up in was not a city of open-minded religious pluralism. Modesto is the city where, as a teen, I was invited by a friend to a service at his church. It turned out to be a performance of “Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames,” a dramatization of the…

“A Declaration of Dependence Upon MARRIAGE and FAMiLY”

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…e long-term interests of American children. I’m serious.) Described by the New York Times Magazine as “Iowa’s most prominent social conservative,” Vander Plaats helped get three state Supreme Court justices off the bench in 2010, after they ruled in support of marriage equality. He helped Mike Huckabee win Iowa. And now he, and the FAMiLY LEADER, have a pledge they want all presidential candidates to take. This is the point where, if it were me re…

Contraception: 1; Notre Dame: 0

By Patricia Miller

…her courts have found just the opposite. A federal district court judge in New York granted the Archdiocese of New York an injunction from the mandate because he said that signing the form violated the dioceses’ religious freedom. And the Little Sisters of the Poor, who made the same argument, were granted a temporary stay by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor from providing contraception while their case is decided. The latest ruling comes ju…

Will Gay Rights Pave the Way for Decriminalizing Mormon Polygamy?

By Joanna Brooks

…ing to see public discourse on polygamy begin to shift in the pages of the New York Times. Just last year, here at RD, I tangled with a NY Times Book Review contributor who in a review of Brady Udall’s masterful novel The Lonely Polygamist insisted that polygamy was inherently “abhorrent.” Why? Well, the critic explained, because everyone thought so. It’s also fascinating to consider how the Brown case may shine a light on the complicated ways non…

Jews and Baseball: A Reflection on a Longtime Love Affair

By Rebecca T. Alpert

…oot for the home team, and I just wasn’t sure where home was. I rooted for New York and former New York teams—the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees, and Mets (my mother’s team)—all still had my affection, and to some extent still do. But I’ve lived in Philadelphia for forty years now, and have finally fully adopted the Phillies. It’s really hard to live in this city and not be in love with the Phillies in this era; they resemble the multiracial team of my…

Untethering Conscience From Religion: An Interview with Louisa Thomas

By Jeremy Kessler

…different from his father’s. Norman went to Union Theological Seminary in New York. Being a minister is what his parents wanted him to do; going to UTS was not what his parents wanted him to do. Union was a bastion of liberal Christianity, of the “social gospel.” The social gospel movement promoted the idea that society should abide by what Jesus laid out in the Sermon on the Mount, that love should be the animating force of human interaction. It…

The Pope Is Not the Church

By Nathan Schneider

…it of visiting Sant’Egidio’s ministries in Rome. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York is seeking Dorothy Day’s cause for sainthood. And now, almost eight hundred years after Francis’ death, a pope has named himself after him. Each of these Catholic heroes had a certain respect for the papacy, but they didn’t let that get in the way of living out the gospel for themselves. They took inspiration from the words of Church authorities, but more important…

The Anglican and the Evangelicals: Insights from the Sudanese Genocide

By Frederick Clarkson

…atalytic figure in the public eye. Following the House hearing, he flew to New York to participate in a press conference (his first) and to press the UN Security Council to act. Andudu is unique not only because but for a medical trip to the U.S., he might now be in a mass grave in Kadugli, and not only because he is a refugee bishop, unexpectedly cast onto the international stage—but because he actually represents the people being discussed. He i…