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What NOT to Expect from the Pope’s US Visit

By Anthea Butler

…ents about doctrinal issues or specific political issues particular to the American scene. Francis, after all is a head of a global church. So whatever reading is given to his statements, those must not be filtered through popular hope or punditry, but through Catholic teaching. Pope Francis’s straightforward messages on issues like poverty are discordant to American ears because of the religious vitriol we are constantly hearing from pundits, pre…

Conservative Points in Pope’s Speech Include Liberal “Chasers”

By Patricia Miller

…viduals, it just sounded like Francis was speaking of the traditional, all-American meaning in terms of the right to worship freely. In fact, Francis’ unannounced visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor at their home across the street from Catholic University, which wasn’t reported until after the fact, could be seen as an effort to rebalance the ledger for conservatives who are closely following the issue but didn’t get a shout-out during the add…

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

By Haroon Moghul

…“because my Savior never engaged in those kinds of actions.” Of course, no American Muslim I know has these conversations, not in many years—the debate in favor of democracy was long ago decided. But clearly some people think we haven’t made up our minds, assuming that because people somewhere else are questioning democracy, we must be, too. (The next time this question comes up I’m going to ask whether we can trust American Christians because of…

God May Weep For Church Sexual Abuse, But Bishop Chaput Prefers to Bark

By Anthea Butler

…tect children,” but because it was the first time he met with survivors on American soil. The Pope’s post-meeting remarks to the assembled Bishops, that “God weeps,” may be a hint of what the next phase of the sexual abuse scandal holds. In his words to the Bishops gathered, Pope Francis said, “The crimes and sins of sexual abuse of minors may no longer be kept secret; I commit myself to ensuring that the Church makes every effort to protect minor…

Pope Benedict’s 2006 Islamophobia Controversy Wasn’t an Isolated Incident — Islamophobia is an Integral Part of His Theological Legacy

By Wendy Mallette

…ticulturalism” that’s led to a “pathological” form of “self-hatred” and “a flight from one’s own heritage.” Throughout Benedict’s narrative, from the Holy Roman Empire through the Crusades and contemporary Europe, Islam represents Europe’s threatening, external other. Benedict’s account of European history, as Columbia University’s Joseph A. Massad writes, “recode[s] European forms of despotism as democracy”—for example, portraying the Crusades as…

Mexican Marriage Marches Show Struggle Between Church and Secular State; Pro-LGBT Mormon Group Grows After ‘Apostate’ Declaration; Botswana Gives Anti-Gay US Pastor the Boot; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…on groups, held a regional conference in Nairobi, Kenya this past weekend. American Religious Right figures on the schedule included Don Feder of the World Congress of Families, Sharon Slater of Family Watch International, Michael Hichborn of the far-right Catholic Lapanto Institute, In a conference preview, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted: Africa continues to be a nexus of anti-LGBT and anti-choice activism on the part of U.S.-based individ…

Will the Taliban Actually Remain Somewhat Moderate This Time?

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…since the North Vietnamese military had attacked it, and in fact the last American soldiers to lose their lives in the war were defending the airport. After that last helicopter flight not a single person was evacuated by the US military. The “boat people” who fled Vietnam did so on their own. By contrast the Taliban has been remarkably patient. The airport hasn’t been bombarded, and tens of thousands of Afghan people have been able to board US m…

How Postwar Germany’s Witchcraft Trials Can Help Us Understand QAnon And Other Conspiracy Theories

By Monica Black

…aft accusations did not involve carnal relations with the Devil, nocturnal flight, or being able to fall down stairs without sustaining injury. Though they imputed magical evildoing, the accusations mostly involved more mundane human problems, like suspicion, resentment, and festering doubt. This characteristic aligns with what anthropologists and historians who work on comparative witchcraft have made clear: that while witch fears can take quite…

The Leadership Crisis at the End of the Megachurch Era

By Benjamin Dueholm

…yle could be separated from the enduring substance. But departure after departure and scandal after scandal suggests that it was not to be. If there’s another chapter left in American Christianity, it will likely require an embrace rather than a flight from the absurdity of its words and practices….

“Tell Me What You Believe About Ferguson, and I’ll Tell You What You Believe About God”: A Missouri Pilgrimage

By Anita Little

…. Louis skyline from where our group stood on the mounds, was a “symbol of American terrorism” to the black communities that its construction displaced. Through eminent domain, 37 blocks of homes and businesses in the thriving black St. Louis community were razed to make room for a monument to the United States’ western expansion. To add insult to injury, discriminatory hiring policies made many of the promised construction jobs unavailable to non…