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American Fever: A Tale of Romance and Pestilence

By Michael A. Elliott

…religious and secular apocalyptic visions dovetail. Evangelical Christians look to each new disaster, he writes, for signs of Judgment Day; Muslims look for the return of Christ as an Islamic prophet; and “eco-doomsayers assert that their own exciting views of catastrophe are rooted in science and measurable observation.” But our survivalist is not having it. He’s skeptical of grand theories to explain the pandemic, just as he’s wary of anyone who…

Reverend Billy For Mayor: Is He For Real?

By Nathan Schneider

…uing on down the street, he whispers, “She’s hurting.” He glances upward. “Look at those clouds!” Is Reverend Billy (aka William Talen) for real? As a man of God? As a politician? Or is he “only” a performer? He’s hardly the first public figure to ape religious faith for political ends. And he’s not the first actor to run for high office in this country—though Ronald Reagan left his costumes in Hollywood. Running against Republican/Independent Mik…

Hitchens Debates Conservative Evangelical: Nothing Happens

By Eric Reitan

…is supposed to be a response to the recent wave of so-called “new atheist” bestsellers (including Hitchens’ God is Not Great), what I really end up doing is agreeing with most of their criticisms but then reinterpreting religion to avoid them. While a bit exaggerated, there’s actually some truth to this charge. When Dawkins rails against the newest permutation of creation science, “Intelligent Design theory,” my response is, “Yes, and it’s not jus…

Personhood Leaders’ Smear Campaign Debunked

By Lara Riscol

…it would be nice if this incident could cause BOTH sides of this debate to look at their tactics and really think about how little good it does to terrorize people you disagree with.” Further spinning Keith Mason’s myth of rampaging “pro-abortion criminals,” LifeSiteNews raised the culture-war stakes: “Asked point blank if he were willing to lose his life for the cause, the father of four replied, ‘I’m not hoping it goes there, man. Yeah, I don’t…

Too Late for Apologies: Three Steps the U.S. Bishops Should Take to Prevent Another Sexual Abuse Scandal

By Grant Gallicho

…user-priests from ministry, and to establish majority-lay review boards to look at allegations against clergy and advise bishops whether to suspend the accused. The bishops also required priests, deacons, diocesan employees, volunteers, and children in education programs to undergo “safe environment” training. The Charter has gone a long way toward addressing the crisis. Last month, the bishops released a study of the “causes and context” of the c…

Indonesian Court Rejects Religious Conservatives’ Bid To Criminalize Gay Sex; More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…conflict and politics in a Muslim majority nation.” The abstract: While a number of investigations have examined how gay Muslim men view homosexuality in relation to religious Western homophobia, this research constitutes the first account of the experiences of self-identified gay men living in an African, Muslim nation, where same-sex sex is both illegal and actively persecuted. We interviewed 28 gay men living in Tunisia in order to understand…

There’s Something Rotten in Ireland

By Haroon Moghul

…the postings are stunningly offensive—and the embassy might be better off looking more seriously into them. Certainly, they do not help the current Israeli government’s declining popularity in the eastern half of the West. More worryingly, the deliberate provocations seem to have emerged from the embassy’s public relations strategy, which includes wondering if pro-Palestinian Israeli activists are motivated less by ideology and more by “sexual id…

And What of the Non-Jewish Jews?

By Shaul Magid

…ancestry generations ago, a Jewish spouse, Jewish friends etc. In terms of numbers, Jews by religion or no religion make up 2.2% of the U.S. population, but if you add “People with a Jewish affinity” it rises to 2.7%, so that this category of people who are not considered Jews by the Jewish community but identify as Jews is nearly 25% of the Jews by religion or no religion, those we conventionally call “Jews.” The fact that there are so many Ameri…

False Saviors: Trump, Cruz, and the Gospel of the Quick Fix

By Marcia Pally

…sons not in the labor force is growing. While some are getting richer, the numbers tell us, middle income earners are hobbled by shrinking purchasing power, disappearing job opportunities, and increasingly out-of-reach education. This is problem enough for the many who work hard and can’t figure out why they’re “losing ground,” as Pew wrote. Add to that fears of terrorism. People want relief. But if no solution presents itself, either lassitude or…

A Debate Rages in India Over Conversion, Secularism, and “Spiritual Violence”

By Murali Balaji

…disappearing tradition is stoked primarily by demographics. Indian census numbers show that the percentage of those identifying as Hindus dipped below 80 percent for the first time. But while there is much talk about a rising Muslim population, the actual spikes have come among Christians, where the mass conversion of tribal groups and Dalits has been part of a sustained and systematic effort of “Great Commission” movements such as the Joshua Pro…