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Rage or Courage?: YouTube Terrorism Take Two

By Bruce B. Lawrence

…mages move, but moving images move faster and wound more deeply. And it’s crucial to recognize that the Muslim world does not speak with one voice, or march to one tune. There are many, many Muslims who are prone not to rage but to courage, as the popular uprising against militias in Libya (and the gentleman in the cell phone store) attest. This perspective often goes unreported but can be sighted in various locales throughout the Mediterranean an…

The New “Values Voters” Mantra

By Sarah Posner

…ontend, are not granted by either document, only recognized in them; these rights exist only because they were granted by God. That “endowed by the Creator” argument has been made repeatedly by Republican politicians in speeches lately, including Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann, and Newt Gingrich. That’s the new “values voters” rhetoric: government is a tyrant, disobedient to God. Sure, all the anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-secularism stuff i…

Rand Paul’s Messianic Campaign Video Shouts “Yes I Can!”

By Gareth Higgins

…recites his mild variation on the usual rote declamation: “It’s time for a new way, a new set of ideas…and above all it’s time for a new president.” We’re invited to “Join the movement.” The latter notion worked so well for candidate Obama, although his campaign struggled to figure out how to translate the energy of so many young people into practical action after the inauguration. But the key difference between Paul’s rhetoric and the last succes…

New Pope Accused of Conspiring in Kidnapping

By Nicole Greenfield

…. You are the dictatorship!)—today became—“Bergoglio. Basura. Vos sos la dictadura.” Habemus Papam Franciscum! Check back (or sign up for the newsletter) for a more detailed profile of the new pope. …

How Robert Bellah (1927-2013) Changed the Study of Religion

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…anet. A recent form of global religion—the emergence of strident religious politics—is related to the worldwide crisis of the nation-state and is a defensive response to the era of global interaction. Bellah shows us that this has happened before, at important moments earlier in history, when global social changes have created religious responses on a virtually global scale. Hence, in his mid-80s, Robert Bellah has once again become a pioneer in r…

Catholics for Choice Blasts New Proposed Contraception Coverage Rule

By Sarah Posner

…ocial services organizations, and Catholic hospitals, said Hutchinson. The new proposed rule permits these organizations, she said, to self-certify that they are entitled to the work-around, or accommodation, that places the onus of providing and paying for the contraception coverage on the insurance company. Hutchinson said she was “dubious, maybe cynical, about how easy and how smooth the process of making sure the folks who do need, the employ…

Will Women Priests Change the Church?

By Mary E. Hunt

…documentary that is making the rounds at film festivals (it will debut in New York on February 12 at the Athena Film Festival, hosted by Barnard College). The title refers to protests held at churches around the country during the Conclave in 2005 that elected Pope Benedict XVI where women created pink smoke—instead of the traditional white smoke that heralds the choice of a pope—to draw attention to the fact that the election was a men’s club af…

The New God-Fearers (FKA “The Nones”) and Where to Find Them

By Carlos Wilton

…d that God was firmly installed in the churches and all was right with the world. (Except for the Godless Communists. But we knew our hymns were the talisman that kept them at bay.) “American Christianity—especially its Mainline Protestant variety—has largely forgotten how to seek out and visit the ad hoc places of prayer in our culture.” Then the millennium turned, and the worm with it. The Y2K bug became the least of pastors’ worries. The steady…

LGBT and Muslim? A New Report Busts Stereotypes

By Peter Montgomery

…BT Inclusion Project,” was just published by Intersections International—a New York-based nonprofit whose mandate, says founding director Rev. Robert Chase, is to bring together people who differ, honor those differences, and find ways to work together for reconciliation, justice, and peace. The report builds on interviews with Muslim community leaders, several scholarly articles, as well as facilitated discussions among more than 50 people in six…

Manhattan Declaration Is The New Old Culture War

By Sarah Posner

…oof that the culture wars are not only not over; there hasn’t even been a truce. The Declaration’s drafters and signatories view it as an act of “conscience” and religious devotion, not politics, yet they threaten unspecified civil disobedience if the law fails to yield to their theocratic fantasies. But if the document is so disassociated from current political events, why did it need to hit the streets with a splash at the National Press Club? T…