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The Question of Evil: Politicians Weigh In

By Mark Gstohl

…here’s no attempt to ground the response in dependence on God or to be self-reflective. Not only is this approach idolatrous — because McCain seems to trust in our own ability to defeat evil — it is also reckless. If we fail as a country to be self-reflective in our attempt to defeat evil, we might engage in evil acts, such as torture, and justify evil such acts. Seems we’ve already done that. It’s no surprise that McCain’s answer would draw appla…

Necessary Sacrifice: Sundance, Mormon Movies, and the Race to Oscar Night

By Kathryn Lofton

…wimming holes, mama strapping on a shotgun to interrupt dad’s afternoon Laz-Z-Boy lookout. Take, as evidence, the 2008 Academy Award nominees for best picture: Atonement, glancing quickly at a once-upon-a-time (maybe) rape; Michael Clayton , distracting with an exploding car and staged suicide; No Country For Old Men, starring an impassive assassin who pauses only to wipe blood from his shoes on suburban porch steps; There Will Be Blood, blending…

Rage Against the New Age Machine: Three Days at the Osho International Meditation Resort

By Diane Winston

…adrenaline surged. I knew Citibank could be unreliable, but why was a peace-and-love retreat tormenting me? Returning empty-handed, I vented loudly in the crowded check-in area. Eager to calm my rising and very public ire, the registrar allowed us to check in and told me to come back in the morning. But before we could go to our rooms, we were taken to the Galleria, Osho’s one stop shop for toiletries, souvenirs and mandated resort wear—long maroo…

The ‘Freedom Convoy’ is Inspired by a Biblical Account of Divine Massacre: Welcome to the Jericho March

By Thomas Lecaque

…spiracy theory. Viganò has promoted it relentlessly. It’s also used by anti-vaxx, anti-mask and other anti-mandate groups as their way of drumming up support internationally and bringing in more conspiracy theorists. Viganò’s message focuses on Christian nationalism from a Catholic perspective. It’s also permeated with QAnon tropes: “But, even more, dear Canadian brothers, it is necessary to understand that this dystopia serves to establish the di…

Pope Tweeted into Retirement

By Rachel Wagner

…ut celebrity hairstyle and recent movies. And whether religious groups like them or not, interactive new media networks are here to stay. If Catholicism is to thrive, it will have to determine how to reconcile millennia-old, top-down communications systems of faith with an interactive, user-driven environment where individual voices clash and clamor for attention. Now it’s up to the next pontiff to try to sort out the madness….

Bonnaroo: The Meeting Ground

By E. David Morgen

…e in public. But the chance to see so many people engaged in extended, face-to-face, Blackberry-free communication—sitting in their camp chairs, lying on blankets—may be the most remarkable sights of the entire event. These might be high school friends who now attend different colleges, perhaps twenty-somethings at the beginnings of their adult lives. There are older campers as well, and some multigenerational families. Some have driven for days (…

When Blasphemy Was a Riot (But Didn’t Cause One)

By Sophie Gherardi

…and World War II hero, had just passed away in his country home in Colombey-les-deux-églises a few days after 146 young people perished in a huge fire that burned down a nightclub. Hara-Kiri Hebdo had come out with the headline: “Tragic party in Colombey: one dead”. Resurrected soon after the ban under the new name Charlie Hebdo, the magazine was our weekly delight; I mean we, post-’68 students in Paris. Its reporters were such naughty, nasty, fun…

Huckabee Channels Rushdoony

By Julie Ingersoll

…find themselves at the center of the plans of Almighty God, building “multi-generational faithfulness”; a moving and heady experience, no doubt. On the Daily Show, Huckabee responded to Stewart’s charge that Barton is a theologian not a historian by saying that he doesn’t believe that Barton is advocating an establishment of religion. But Barton’s effort to shape how history is taught in public schools, seen in the context of his philosophy of his…

Answers in Genesis Seeks Tax Breaks for New Theme Park

By Lauri Lebo

…ical account of Noah and the Great Flood. Answers in Genesis is the not-for-profit apologetics organization that built the Creation Museum, a 70,000 square-foot building devoted to the idea that everything in the bible is literally true and that evolution is a lie. As an example of its scientific rigorousness, one of the exhibits argues that dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden were all vegetarian. In addition to Noah’s Ark, which developers claim will…

The Sacred and the Dead: Three Ways to American Beauty

By Aaron K. Kerr

…cle.” And to my mind the most illuminating expression of this is the tongue-in-cheek “U.S. Blues” in which Uncle Sam joyfully explains his audacious and deceptive allure. Such duplicity is emboldened through the art of seduction. A candyman is a seducer, and the song on American Beauty is very clear about this. One might compare Sammy Davis Jr.’s 1972 hit “Candyman” with the Dead’s version. Davis’ take is all sweetness and light and morally uprigh…