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Calling Trump’s Bee-Smitten Christians: You Think You Know What “Koinonia” Means?

By Peter Laarman

…al treat, and what do we do? We politicize it immediately, of course. Within hours of the Bee’s wrap, Christianity Today’s headline was bragging that all good Christians (meaning evangelicals) who watched found it “easy” to relate to the winning word. Um…I kinda doubt that. But what I don’t doubt is that the millions of white evangelicals who still stand solidly behind Trump, even on separating immigrant families—families made up overwhelmingly…

Hail Santa! War-on-Christmas Outrage Over Satanic Tree Reveals the Self-Serving Ambiguity of ‘Religion’

By Joseph Laycock

…ch. The RFI never defines the thing they claim to defend. Religion scholar Russell McCutcheon has argued that the ambiguity of the word “religion” is a feature, not a bug. As he puts it, “[religion’s] utility is linked to its inability to be defined.” Just as Christmas can be either religious or secular depending on whose interests are being served, a group can be either a religion or an “anti-religious force” as needed in order to create the impr…

Why White Evangelical Women Aren’t the Swing Voters They Sometimes Appear to Be

By Sikivu Hutchinson

…personal relationships to transcend social division and difference. In the words of IF founder Jennie Allen, these relationships “can change the world.” In 2017, she got on stage and asked a rhetorical question, “How many people feel like the world is complicated right now?” She nodded her head and explained, “we have a very important mission in the midst of this complicated world. I believe that women with other women on living room floors with t…

Growing Up Cult: A Memoir of Life with Sri Chinmoy

By Brittany Shoot

…lowing. Her parents conceived her in violation of the community’s celibacy rules, but the guru, rather than rejecting her, dubbed her “Chosen One” and she became a cherished favorite. Chinmoy, an orphan, had himself grown up in a religious community, the ashram of Sri Aurobindo. The religious life he required of his followers (including practicing abstinence from sex, vegetarianism, and poverty) was conventional enough as far as monastic rules wen…

Trump with back to camera stands before a frenzied crowd with raised fist.

With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory

By Robert P. Jones

…iss these comments as typical bluster or with a wave of the hand because “Trump is just being Trump.” Here’s what former President Donald J. Trump—the leading GOP presidential candidate—has said in the last few weeks: ROOT OUT…THE VERMIN. This past weekend, Trump was in New Hampshire, where he delivered a nearly two-hour rambling tirade on Veterans Day. Trump’s closing should send a chill up the spine of every student of history and everyone who c…

If Something About Trump’s Bible Photo-Op Felt Familiar There’s a Good Reason

By Karen E. Park

…selling. Products. A search through the many Trump-branded products from Trump Steak to Trump Vodka [right] shows Trump holding his “signature” objects in just this way. Trump hasn’t read the Bible or prayed with it any more than he ever studied for finals at Trump University or sipped Trump Vodka (slogan: “Success Distilled”). Trump chooses objects, examines them for their potential to increase his money or power, displays these to the public th…

The Only Common Denominator of American Conservatism is Anti-Blackness

By Yannick Marshall

…s a last resort they assist with another vanishing act: the invention of “Trump’s base.” His base is understood to be the underbelly of American conservatives and not, as the “base” itself cheers: the silent majority. Trump is forever “appealing to the worst instincts of his base” as if they have any other. As if he is some mastermind manipulating a crowd terrified of social change. A more reasonable interpretation exists: Trump is no evil genius….

LDS Church Disavows “Mormon”-ism

By Holly Welker

…properly be called anti-Mormon since the church itself is now officially anti-Mormon). Restoredchurchofjesuschrist.org says that it’s “under construction, but Ldsnewsroom.com was still available as of this writing….

What’s in an “Om”?: How Women are Transforming Yoga

By Meera Subramanian

…ing out. The teacher comes up behind her and gently presses down on her sacrum—a Latin word derived from the Greek hieron osteon or “sacred bone”, from the belief that the soul resides there. I have known the positive jolt of electricity that I have felt in yoga classes when a teacher’s hands helped me move deeper into a position. But to think of these girls, who have not been the recipients of gentle touch, it must be monumental in terms of heali…

Talking to Noah Screenwriter On Being an Eco-Wacko

By Brook Wilensky-Lanford

…re are so many denominations—there is a value of literalism, an exactness, word for word. In Judaism, we interpret, engage, ask questions of the text. The emphasis is on “an interpretation” rather than “the interpretation”. The text is a living thing. It’s a culture of grappling with the text, it’s dynamic. Darren and I come from this world, so that’s how we approached it. But it’s also more freeing as an artist. One thing that you definitely got…