Search for "cheap airline tickets from flint to little rock ar phone number 1-800-299-7264"

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Heretic: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Jihadis?

By Haroon Moghul

…As we proceed, feel free to remind yourself, as often as necessary, that Harvard’s Belfer Center has appointed Ayaan Hirsi Ali a Fellow in ‘The Future of Diplomacy Project.’ Such peacemaking potential is found in her breakdown of the world’s Muslims into three categories: ‘Medina Muslims,’ who are the neighbors you don’t want; ‘Mecca Muslims,’ the delusional neighbors you’re statistically more likely to have; and ‘the Modifier Muslims,’ who, up u…

Is Downward Dog the Path to Hell?

By Andrea R. Jain

…as a “false religion.” At around the same time Pat Robertson issued a similar warning describing some aspects of it as “really spooky.” Even more recently Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, told a live audience that: “Yoga is demonic… It’s absolute paganism… Yoga and meditation and Easternism is [sic] all opening to demonism… if you just sign up for a little yoga class, you’re signing up for a little demon class. Tha…

Easter: The Underdog Holiday

By Mary Valle

Easter. It’s not much of a holiday compared to the Star Wars-franchise that is Christmas and the Avatar that is Halloween (now #2 in overall holiday spending). Easter, in cinematic terms, seems to me something out of Eric Rohmer: Frenchy, Catholic, seemingly full of fresh air and sunlight while remaining bittersweet and melancholy-tinged. Death is never far from the minds of Catholics, especially on this occasion. I would argue that Easter doesn’…

Dear Pope: Call Me—10 Steps to Fixing the Sexual Abuse Crisis

By Marie Fortune

…ons being raised about the Pope himself, one has to wonder if the men in charge have learned anything in the past 20 years. It would appear not. If the Vatican were to ask me for advice on how to handle this situation (which they will not), here are my ten steps to justice and healing: Words are important but actions are the real test. Anyone who knew and did nothing or knew and covered it up should no longer be in a position of authority in the c…

The Top 10 (Non-Religious) Religious Films of 2017

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

Cinema and religion are never far apart—both bring light to darkened places. Sometimes the illumination comes from bright souls gathered together to confront dark forces. Sometimes it’s the light of bonfires lit to root out (perceived) monsters. Sometimes the light beckons to us from outside the window, or at the end of a tunnel, showing us another world beyond, full of possibilities. The lights are at times alluring, and other times frightening,…

God’s Chosen Tweeters?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…udes churches, religious, and other spiritual groups, where internet and smartphone users are 15% more likely to be active than non-users. From photos of your last Habitat for Humanity project, to tweets that you’re powering off for the Sabbath, to prayers for sick friends and uninspired sermon-writers, social networking sites have become the connective membranes of contemporary social and spiritual experience alike. Data from Pew and other resear…

God Grows Up: Robert Wright’s Evolution of God

By Robert Wright

…Also, more generally, I felt that the standard histories of God, such as Karen Armstrong’s, do a good job of showing how our ideas about god change over time but don’t spend much time on the question of why. What’s the most important take-home message for readers? That there’s no such thing as a “religion of peace” or a “religion of war.” Any religion can be good or bad, depending on the circumstances that believers find themselves in. If you arr…

Setting a Low Bar: Religious Entities Praised for Treating Covid Religious Exemptions Responsibly

By Chrissy Stroop

…ed as good citizens in the fight against Covid, even though they clearly bear varying degrees of responsibility for making the extremists in their ranks feel welcome. In addition, their public statements on these matters cost them nothing, apart from perhaps a little discontent among their flocks. Take the example of the LDS Church’s Brigham Young University. BYU could choose to be among the over 1,000 campuses that already require vaccination for…

Who Are Michigan Catholic Bishops to Judge?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ps do go a little Pope Francis in the letter, insisting that, “it is necessary to state clearly that persons with same-sex attraction should not be judged, but rather accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.” Well, sure “it’s necessary” to state this when you’ve just judged and disrespected the relationships and families of lesbians and gays in Michigan. But it’s even more necessary to act as though you actually believed that. The good n…

Palin Goes ‘Hopey-Changey,’ But Don’t Call it Political

By Julie Ingersoll

…o had introduced Palin, saying “elections matter!”) had easily won his primary two days earlier though he may face a more serious challenge in November from Deborah Gianoulis, a popular former local newscaster. Palin offered her endorsement of Thrasher saying: The name Thrasher, you know what that means to us in Alaska? To us the criteria for whether a guy or girl is cool or not is can they ride a (snow) machine? So, often they’ll say can they cli…