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The Contested Religious Powers of Baseball on Display in Cuba

By Sean O'Neil

…ry that supposedly fosters a very different way of life? Chris Archer, a 28-year-old pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, and most voluble spokesman for this round of baseball diplomacy, was optimistic: Hopefully, the Rays are showing the people of Cuba, the government of Cuba, what can be, for lack of a better term, afforded to them if they do open their doors and start being a little more open-minded about their policies. The idea of baseball as a po…

Mormon Women Knock at the Door, Are Turned Away

By Holly Welker

…ed to the Tabernacle on Temple Square to wait in the stand-by line for last-minute tickets. Instead they were met by church spokesperson Ruth Todd, who said, “This is no surprise to you, that we won’t be able to offer you a ticket or a place.” Then, as men and boys strode past them into the Tabernacle where they awaited the opportunity to move to the Conference Center where the session would take place, members of Ordain Women lined up individual…

Blame Series Bonus: Why We Want That Dish For Free, an Uncut Interview with Bertram Malle

By Andrew Aghapour

…free glass of wine, or a free dessert, because that balances out the input-output equation. So if the customer service agent gives you something, then you feel compensated, then you’re okay, and it’s not such a cognitive puzzle, and also not such a frustration to deal with the amorphous agent of the airline as a whole. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the customer service agent or the person at the desk, who sat there, right when the doors were clo…

Pope Praises ‘Complementarity’ & Resists Gay Ambassador; Irish Religious Leaders Spar Over Marriage; Colombian Atty Gen Cites ‘Bogus’ Study Opposing Adoption; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…uples. Kazakhstan: Amnesty International urging president to reject Russian-style anti-gay law Amnesty International has called on President Nursultan Nazarbayev to reject a Russian-style “Law on the Protection of Children from Information Harming their Health and Development.” From AI: With its large ethnic Russian population dating to its history as a Soviet republic and as a core member of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union, Kazakhstan’s po…

Paranormal Vodka, Exorcists and a Demonic Doll: Welcome to Paracon, Based on the Work of the Demon-Hunters Who Inspired the ‘Conjuring’ Series

By Eric Harrelson and Joseph P. Laycock

…the billion-dollar Conjuring series of films. Put on by Tony Spera, the son-in-law of Ed and Lorraine and current head of NESPR, the Paracon boasts the chance to see real haunted artifacts straight from the Warren’s now-closed Occult Museum. Joe and I jumped at the opportunity. We enter the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, and follow the staggeringly long line as it snakes out the doors, into the Casino, past restaurants, conference…

Spiritual Unplugging, Or What to Do When There is Wifi at the Ashram

By Matt Hamilton

…(and craving) swift condemnation by the monks and nuns at the sight of an iPhone. I was on a university-sponsored trip to the subcontinent with other journalists, all of us covering politics and religion. The reporting would come later, however. First came three days in an ashram, and I hoped for a 72-hour hiatus from the compulsion to connect. But this ashram sold wifi. Monks rested their keys and cellphones on the table during meals. And during…

Pop-Culture Angels Are More Than Just Embarrassing Kitsch

By Ed Simon

…the popularity of these tabloids can be directly attributed to their tongue-in-cheek entertainment value. Touched by an angel — every Sunday At the beginning of the period of prestige TV known as the “Third Golden Age of Television,” when David Lynch was directing Twin Peaks and David Chase was just launching The Sopranos, one of the most popular shows—albeit incredibly distant from being critically acclaimed—was a hokey, family friendly fantasy…

How Much Did Jesus Care About Sex?

By Peter Laarman

…arrest. Segue to my second and primary point: Bonhoeffer’s discussion of cheap grace in The Cost of Discipleship was meant above all as a critique of the so-called “German Christians”—the Lutherans who readily went along with the Nazi program—as against the much smaller group of Lutherans who chose the path of resistance through their Confessing Church. Bonhoeffer recognized that the Lutheran emphasis on salvation by grace alone had always been…

Beyond Alarmism and Denial in the Dominionism Debate

By Anthea Butler

…I saw Long give a heavy-handed appeal for money during one of TBN’s “Praise-A-Thons” to an audience that clearly didn’t have the money to spare for lining the pockets of Christian television titans. Long was presented as a prophet; he learned the “spiritual authority” and “kingdom order” from the same teacher as Earl Paulk, and earlier in his career, T.D. Jakes. Here’s how Long applied the pressure: For Long, the telethon presents just another opp…

Episcopal Church Assault Data Reveals the Dark Side of Inclusive Christianity

By Charlotte Dalwood

…ed States, it contributes to the “truth telling” element of a planned truth-and-reconciliation process on gender and sexual abuse in Episcopal spaces. And the truth is horrifying. Of the more than 2400 responses collected, 475 (20%) are from cisgender LGB Episcopalians. Nearly 40% of these—189 individuals—reported being the targets of inappropriate jokes and comments; 29.9%—82 individuals—of inappropriate touching; and a further 14.9%—71 individua…