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The Psychological Cost of an LDS Mission

By Holly Welker

…and unexpected about missionary life without treating the missionaries themselves as oddities. I was especially pleased that it highlighted how few results tracting yields—I really hope that the church expands its efforts to replace futile activities like that with more productive ones like service. I was glad it reported that “sister missionaries are outperforming male ones in recruitment.” This was true in my mission as well and was one reason m…

As Irish Flee the Church, a Push For Reform

By Diane Winston

…oment. Neither the Association of Irish Priests (ACP) nor We Are Church, local organizations that, respectively, represent the Irish clergy and laity, are willing to accept the status quo. The abuse crisis provided an opening for their critiques of Church structure and hierarchy, but the present troubles, they say, are symptomatic of the hierarchy’s lack of transparency and accountability. Fr. Sean McDonagh, co-convener of the 1,000-member ACP, wa…

#PrayForBoston: Prayer as a Meme

By Elizabeth Drescher

…licans, and, of course, Justin Bieber joining millions across the world in calling for prayer. Shortly after the blast, a Twitter profile, (@iPrayForBoston), quickly gathered more than 25,000 followers. Likewise, Facebook users began posting “Pray for Boston” icons, changing their profile and cover images to show support, and offering and calling for prayers on their walls. On Facebook, too, a Pray for Boston page was set up, though its reach, wit…

Vandalism as Conversation-Starter

By Elizabeth Drescher

…lking about the small parish’s decision to recognize the church building itself as a communication medium. The tag, it turns out, is a lyric from a powerful, disturbing, and spiritually freighted song, “King Park,” by the post-hardcore punk band La Dispute. The song deals with the shooting death of a teen caught in a drive-by shooting in the King Park neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan and the subsequent suicide of one of the suspected shooter…

The Humanities Make Life Bearable

By Peter Laarman

Walt Whitman counseled each of us to “dismiss whatever insults your soul.” My fervent hope is that the new Commission on the Humanities and Social Science report—a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences that was “commissioned” or “requested” by a quartet of DC pols—will be dismissed accordingly. The report fails to say anything of significance about the inexpressible joy that a traditional liberal education can ignite, the sense of…

My God, David Brooks

By John Modern

…ist David Brooks, some of us do not lack the mental equipment to govern ourselves. And that is good news, indeed. We have it in us, naturally, to see the world on its own terms, to choose our battles, wisely, and to wield our hard-won reason in the service of a kinder and gentler world. Others, particularly those who might question Brooks’ self-assured rendition of Western/American/Brooksian selves and the choices we make, not so much. They “lack…

Will Francis’ Statements on Women and Gays ‘Make a Mess’ Inside the Church?

By Mary E. Hunt

…Janeiro, however, the encore will be more important than the performance itself. Will his comments on the plane ride home regarding the role of women and ‘the gay lobby’ translate into changes inside the institutional church? One can only hope, though it remains too early to tell. I wasn’t there, but I watched enough live coverage to get a feel for the scene at Copacabana Beach. Whether I wanted it or not, I probably earned the plenary indulgence…

Syria and the American Apocalyptic Imagination: Isaiah 17:1 as “Evidence” of the End

By Jason C. Bivins

…long enough). Now, as I have written elsewhere, the conspiracy and the apocalyptic idioms are so ubiquitous—those black-suited agents of the Leviathan state, those flashy secret technologies, that endless night pregnant with threat and meaning—they have made the conspiratorial almost an aesthetic. As I wring my hands along with the rest of the world, anxious about what has happened in Syria and about what might happen still, I perceive that one o…

Buddha as Scientist, Entrepreneur & Self-Improvement Guru

By Michael Schulson

…intellect. Above all, the Buddhist Geeks talks I watched were deeply practical, with little emphasis on escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth, and much more emphasis on using Buddhism to relax the mind and channel entrepreneurial energies. 2) Buddhist geekiness comes in a few distinct forms. This observation comes by way of Ann Gleig, a scholar of Buddhist geekiness brought in by the Buddhist Geeks Conference to talk to Buddhist Geeks about…

His Life in Our Hands: Remembering Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

By Elizabeth Drescher

…through a sketchy part of Culver City in an attempt to bypass some traffic calamity or another on the 10. The radio crackled with almost unbelievable news, and I was so worried I’d lose the signal that I pulled off into a strip mall parking lot and fussed with the dial, confusing the chanting of the crowd in Cape Town—“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!—with static. When the clear, mellifluous voice of arguably the greates…