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Holy Father, You’re Not Helping: The Problem with the Pope’s Plan to Consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

By Katherine Kelaidis

…ian theology. The Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is also one of the most hotly contested theological issues in ecumenical dialogue between East and West, right up there with papal primacy and the filioque (the “and the son” part of the Nicene Creed)—two issues that helped drive the split in the first place. In light of this history, consecrating two countries with overwhelmingly Orthodox majorities to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, particula…

Glenn Beck’s Salvation Army

By Peter Montgomery

…say it is a source of his collectivist, even Marxist, worldview. And it demonstrates his lack of commitment to the “quintessential American concept” of individual rights. Barton’s theory boils down to this: if it weren’t for revolution-supporting preachers and their doctrine of individual salvation, individual rights would not have been incorporated into our founding documents. If it weren’t for those preachers, he says, America today would be mo…

New Reports Reveal Global Persecution of Nonbelievers

By Austin Dacey

…ious control of family law; • and religious control of public education. Almo*]}*st half of the countries of the world have laws or policies that penalize blasphemy, apostasy, contempt of religion, or religious “hate speech,” according to the new analysis by Pew. Of the 198 countries studied, 32 (16%) have anti-blasphemy laws, 20 (10%) have laws against apostasy, and 87 (44%) have laws against the defamation of religion, including hate speech against…

My Business, Myself: Piercing the Corporate Veil

By Howard M. Friedman

…emphasis of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on “wellness,” the law requires most insurance plans to cover preventive health care services without co-pays. Government regulations spell out which services are covered, and among women’s preventive services are all FDA-approved contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures, along with patient education and counseling. Since the regulations were announced, the “contraception mandate” has been the c…

Jesus Christ and Super Stars: How The Holy Rolled Mainstream in Pop Music

By Alana Massey

…devout man declaring the salvific dimensions of the cross. But perhaps the most telling revelation was when he said, “I’m not religious. I, personally, love Jesus and that was my salvation.” That these two diametrically opposed statements came out of Bieber’s mouth one after the other could again be fodder for mockery to his detractors. Finding salvation in Jesus is the definition of being a Christian and Christianity is, for better or worse, a re…

Debate Heats Up Over “Francis Effect”

By Patricia Miller

…the pope’s first year. According to Daniel Burke at CNN.com in a lengthy, mostly anecdotal piece, “there’s more way than one to measure the pontiff’s influence” than, say, actual metrics like the number of people going to mass or returning to the church. According to Burke, you just have to “ask around” Boston to find folks who know someone who’s thinking about returning to the church or who feels less horrible about the church than in the darkes…

8: The Mormon Proposition Gets It Right

By Joanna Brooks

…s deeply familiar with the Proposition 8 campaign is that the film gets it mostly right. [See also Holly Welker’s review here. – Eds] Some take exception to editing choices that sequence events out of context for dramatic effect; others wish that the filmmakers had not been so cartoonish in their depictions of anti-gay-marriage standpoints, using only notorious bigots like Utah Representative Chris Buttars. But most of the Mormon folks I’m heari…

The Best the Largest Progressive Jewish Org Could Come Up With?

By Jay Michaelson

…from the former Soviet Union, Israelis living in America, Jews by choice, most Jews of color, and Jews in interfaith families do not share this narrative. Of course, this history is open to all who seek to claim it, all of those groups included. But it’s curious that BtA explains its social justice commitments not in the age-old teachings of the Jewish tradition (e.g., “You shall not mistreat a stranger, nor oppress him, for you were strangers in…