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A Peek Inside the ‘Onion’ of Scientology

By Kristin Rawls

…Church and raised the issue of child labor. The US District Court for the Central District of California decided not to take up the case for now because, if they do, they would have to in a way put the religion itself on trial and ask whether or not it should be considered a religion. If it is not, then we might legitimately ask the question of how kids of 12, 14, or 16 years old have been allowed to work 16- or 18-hour days, seven days a week. B…

The Way of the Brother: How Critics Missed the Boat on Tree of Life

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…assionate, the god of mercy). Marketers have exploited this dualism, and a promotional website for the film carries the title: twowaysthroughlife.com. Comments on the film (by critics and in the comment sections of major media outlets) typically ape this dualistic proclamation. But as I watch my daughters play, in amiability and animosity alike, I realize The Tree of Life is not merely about parental spouses acting out nature and grace in diverg…

Does Religion Justify the Murder of Troy Davis? [Updated]

By Jay Michaelson

…ich the possibility of amending the record, of righting one’s wrongs, is a central theme. But of course, there is no amending the record once Troy Davis is dead. The various hangmen in Georgia have not cited Scripture as justification for killing Troy Davis, who probably did not commit the murder of which he was convicted. But they may as well have. American moral values are largely derived from religious values, and those values come from the Bib…

Lesbian Nuns: Still Immodest After All These Years

By Susan Henking

…e, could be brought into the sphere of domestic relationships that was the central focus of women’s lives and education, even for those who were cloistered. Many scholars, such as Daniel Bornstein and Joan Del Pozzo have written at length about this in recent years. My book helped to shed light on these relationships by looking at the sources for these visions and how they could be used for a variety of purposes. Some of the scholarly debates in…

Will Istanbul Ever Be a Part of the European Union?

By Haroon Moghul

…planet—you have to go to Moscow in the north, probably Dubai in the south, central Europe in the west and probably India in the east to get this kind of economic power. It doesn’t deserve to be second fiddle to anyone, and with Turkey’s rise, I can see it playing a global role, in the near future, commensurate with its historic one. At the moment I’m overlooking the last stop on the European rail network. From here, you can go all the way to Londo…

Talking Religion at 30,000 Feet

By Michael J. Altman

…epictions of non-Christian religions. Furthermore, by keeping Christianity central, early studies in comparative religion universalized uniquely Christian categories. So, when you studied religion you studied texts, beliefs, and institutions—very nice Protestant categories. As Robert Orsi has put it, Religious studies has been very much the theoretical enforcer of a normative and unchallenged liberal Protestant and Western religious modernity; to…

Presbyterians, Change Hearts & Minds, Begin Ordaining Gays

By MaryAnn McKibben Dana

…Teri Peterson, a pastor who helped organize the pro-10A response in north-central Illinois’ Blackhawk Presbytery, acknowledged that while a handful of pastors have left her presbytery, this year’s first-ever “yes” vote resulted from the swing of more than 36 votes. In an interview with The Presbyterian Outlook, Gradye Parsons, stated clerk of the PC(USA) (the chief ecclesial officer), speculated that many moderates have grown weary of the debate…

Dr. Kervorkian Dies

By Susan Henking

…nists and others have pushed us to re-examine; a boundary that is likewise central to our debates about the separation of church and state. Whether one agrees with courts that sentenced Kervorkian to prison for murder, or with the laws that required this, much has changed since the Michigan pathologist attached his voice to a social movement. He did not start it, nor will it end with his death. And yet, the death of ‘Dr. Death’ reminds us all of t…

Tree of Life, Book of Job

By Jay Michaelson

…At once essentially Catholic and doggedly scientific in its worldview, its central family becomes an archetype, undergoing processes of childlike wonderment, Oedipal lust and rage, the loss of innocence, the loss of faith, and finally, it seems, redemption. These are big themes, and The Tree of Life is a big movie. But I didn’t find it preachy or treacly; Malick is just too beautiful a filmmaker to let that happen. As in his past films, such as…

Roy Moore’s Presidential Ambitions and “Biblical Law”

By Julie Ingersoll

…y movement; earlier this year, was awarded the “All American Award” by the Central Texas Tea Party. Moore’s underlying philosophy of law is that only God and the Bible can be the source of moral authority. Moore has long been involved with the work of the Christian Reconstructionist group Vision Forum, including serving as one of the speakers for its Witherspoon School of Law. The occasional four-day seminar on biblical law (open only to men, by t…