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Conservative Christian Book on Obama’s Faith

By Bill Berkowitz

…d it both troubling and in some cases lacking in depth. Describing a USA Today column by Mansfield titled “The Founders got it right: Religion now rests in a tortured place in society today, thanks largely to unfortunate and misguided rulings of the Supreme Court,” Don Byrd of Talk2Action wrote that Mansfield “called up all of the standard church-state myths and mis-directions: that the Founders intended America to be a Christian nation, that reli…

Welcome to the Shari’ah Conspiracy Theory Industry

By Sarah Posner

…ced any evidence that the document was more than something produced by the daydream of one enthusiast.” Noting that he has been studying Palestinian, Egyptian, Kuwaiti, and Jordanian Brotherhood movements since 2005, Brown added, “Nothing in anything that I have heard has ever struck me as similar in tone or content to the ‘master plan.’” Yet this single document has been used to create a mythology around a supposedly global plot. Brown, addressin…

There’s Something Rotten in Ireland

By Haroon Moghul

…se traced back to the time of Jesus himself. The Palestinian weekend is Friday and Sunday. In addition to being the world’s most annoying and dissatisfying weekend schedule (there should be an award for that, or maybe financial compensation), the days reflect the primary religious affiliations of Palestinians—Muslim (Friday) and Christian (Sunday). Why would Christian Palestinians want to “lynch” Jesus? Or perhaps the embassy’s unknown provocateu…

And What of the Non-Jewish Jews?

By Shaul Magid

…ecently being “Jewish” was a liability and anti-semitism was palpable, the number of non-Jews today who identify as Jewish seems historically distinctive. We could, perhaps, point to the so-called “fearers of heaven,” an undocumented community of Hellenes in late antiquity who lived in large Jewish population centers, apparently lived partially as Jews, and had some status in the Jewish community. But today’s non-Jewish Jews aren’t identifying as…

Can the Catholic Church Survive Trump?

By Patricia Miller

…ining a prohibition on public funding of abortions justifies support for today’s Republican Party. But bishops should be wary of such a judgment. Today’s Republican Party is not an appropriate or reliable vehicle for the advancement of Catholic teaching in the medium and long run because of the simple but profound fact that no American political party ever is such a vehicle or ever will be. But the association with Trump leaves a particularly dark…

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

By Peter Montgomery

…l on twitter. The first same-sex couple is scheduled to be married on Saturday, December 16 after receiving a special exemption from the normal 30-day notice period that means most couples will have to wait until January to get married. Under the law, churches and other religious organizations are not obligated to conduct marriage ceremonies or rent their facilities to same-sex couples. But it “won’t allow taxi drivers, florists, bakers or photogr…

First U.S. Visit of the Virgin Mary Confirmed in Wisconsin

By Lewis Wallace

…ho profited from putting up pilgrims and selling food and wares. Then as today, approval by the Vatican involved both strict alignment with doctrine and a spotless personal record for anyone involved. Trends in official sainthood have changed over time based on who best represents the political and theological interests of the Vatican. Still, the Catholic Church tends not to uphold stringent regulations on folk devotion. Most apparitions, miracles…

Not a ‘Weenie-A** Lodge’: James Ray Trial Begins

By Johnny P. Flynn

…st, sweat, listen to lectures and watch films under Ray’s guidance. In the days leading up to the sweat lodge, more than fifty people were set out in remote locations to fast for thirty-six hours with no food or water. Then, on the afternoon of October 8, 2009, Ray gathered all the people at the Angel Valley Retreat for a Warrior Sweat which was scheduled to last for two or more hours. More than fifty “grandfather stones” were brought into the swe…

How the Politics of the 1890s Explain the GOP’s Health Care Woes

By Patricia Miller

…ge again after running against the tariff and the Silver Act, they, like today’s GOP, were in the hook to make good on their promises of returning America to better, simpler days without government interference. Then, the worst depression of the nineteenth century, the Panic of 1893, hit. The Democrats put all their efforts into repealing the Silver Act, which it blamed for the country’s financial difficulties. But when that didn’t end the panic,…

Yet Another Survey Shows ‘Nones’ Growth at Record Levels

By Elizabeth Drescher

…spirituality, meaning-making, and self-realization in my Nones Beyond the Numbers narrative survey.* *The survey results will contribute to three intertwined research projects I am currently conducting on the meaning-making practices of Nones. The first, sponsored in part through the Social Science Research Council’s “New Directions in the Study of Prayer” initiative, will explore the plurality of Nones who say they regularly engage in prayer….