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The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Humans

By Amina Wadud

…ink I would just go out of my mind for some peace. This hotel is only about 15 floors high and pretty narrow, relative to what I’ve seen. That means, I would expect, a modicum of calm in the lobby, at breakfast and dinner (which are part of the tour package). I will have to make my own arrangements for lunch. I hope my room is on one of the higher floors, less traffic, and the elevators are the same from the 4th and the 14th floors. My room is sha…

Why Anti-Gay Bullying is a Theological Issue

By Cody J. Sanders

…y computer screen as news stories continued to appear about the suicides of 13-year-old Asher Brown, 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, 13-year-old Seth Walsh, and 19-year-old Raymond Chase. Today, it is very clear to me that profound sadness and stunned silence is no longer a suitable, appropriate, or adequate response. From Lamentation to Indignation My sadness began to change into something different with each successive news story about another gay t…

New Reports Reveal Global Persecution of Nonbelievers

By Austin Dacey

…atirizing religious rituals and sanctities and prophets” under articles 98, 160, and 161 of the Egyptian Penal Code. According to Egypt News Daily, the prosecution first sought to charge him in connection with disseminating Innocence of Muslims but when this accusation was proven false, they revised their strategy to target the content of Saber’s video blog. Though sentenced to three years and released on bail he was subsequently locked up due to…

Travolta Airlifts Scientology, Supplies, to Haiti

By Becky Garrison

…t pamphlets under the guise of providing “pastoral care.” Their counseling services included promoting their hotline number on Fox News under the title “National Mental Health Assistance.” In 2002, Tom Cruise and executives from Scientology’s FASE (Foundation for the Advancement in Science and Education) launched “Downtown Medical” (also called “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project”). This facility offered FDNY firefighters and other rec…

Sacred&Profane: The Living Dead

By Gary Laderman

…roughout Europe, Ireland, and England understood the period around November 1 as not just a time to bring in the harvest, slaughter the livestock, and prepare for winter, but also to honor the dead—and most especially to ritually assist the souls who had died over the course of the year to move on to another world. With bonfires and sacrifices, feasting and divination, the Celts mingled with their recent dead but also understood the seasonal trans…

The Real Goal of Pro-Life Movement Support for Scott Brown: Kill Health Care Reform

By Sarah Posner

…the woman in consultation with her doctor, I believe we need to reduce the number of abortions in America. I believe government has the responsibility to regulate in this area and I support parental consent and notification requirements and I oppose partial birth abortion. I also believe there are people of good will on both sides of the issue and we ought to work together to support and promote adoption as an alternative to abortion. Apart from t…

The 17th Century Roots of Roy Moore’s Refusal to Concede the Election

By Karen E. Park

…clear violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment and any number of Supreme Court cases. He was removed again last year for refusing to uphold federal law on same sex marriage, on the grounds that it was in violation of God’s law as found in the Old Testament. Like Winthrop, Moore believes that the Old Testament should order American society, whether Exodus or Leviticus. The ancient Israelites in these societies either adhered, or…

UPDATED: Religion Has Been Framed; Covering the Aga Khan’s Visit

By Hussein Rashid

…rrent dominant narrative is that Shi’ah and Sunni have been in conflict for 1400 years and are always trying to kill each other. As I have argued elsewhere, this view of history is untenable, and reads present day concerns back into the past. Even amongst those whom I believe know better, the rhetoric is normative. For example, Aslan says, “The Isma’ilis are Shi’ah who broke off from the main Shiite branch of Islam.” The fact that there is a large…

When God and Gender Mix: New Book Examines the Southern Holiness Movement

By Colin Chapell

…ge how they understand their own identity. If academic achievement and the number or type of initials after your name is the most important thing in the world to you, then it will change how you view your own masculinity and femininity. Similarly, if having children matters most to you, then you can only be truly “manly” or “feminine” if you have kids. Is there anything you had to leave out? Historians always want to include every interesting anec…

More Than Big Hair and Money: Jim, Tammy Faye and the Media “Holy Wars” of the 80s

By John Wigger

…the Bakkers flaunted their wealth. Bakker raised about $158 million between 1984 and 1987 from his “lifetime partners,” but still managed to leave the ministry teetering on the edge of bankruptcy when the scandal broke. But there was more to it than just big hair and money. Before PTL could become a front-page scandal it had to have an outsized presence in American culture. That largely happened through innovation, including the Christian televisi…