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Burying the Future: Youth Violence in Chicago

By Ibrahim Abusharif

[Derrion Jones, a sixteen-year-old honor student, was beaten to death on his way home from school in Chicago—a city which has suffered the violent deaths of 34 school-age children in the past year. Attention to this tragic incident has reached through city and state government to the Obama White House. In the wake of recent events, Ibrahim Abusharif reflects on the toll of youth violence.] It’s a small grace of life that people with winsome proje…

An American Muslim Abroad, Or, Things I Saw in Dubai

By Haroon Moghul

…ive highways, some 6-8 lanes in each direction. But though it’s called the United Arab Emirates, the population is overwhelmingly South Asian, especially in Dubai—they form the service and labor class, but many South Asians are wealthy professionals and businesspersons. Dubai and the UAE have historically been more a part of the Indian Ocean economy than the Arab world, which is barely a coherent economic concept (countries like Turkey belong as m…

Play to Extinction: Religious Groups Unite Against Predatory Gambling

By Frederick Clarkson

…s were legal in two states in 1985 (Nevada and New Jersey). Today there are 800,000 machines in 40 states. The new generation of electronic “slots” do not even use coins. You purchase and swipe an electronic card like you do at the ATM. The addictive nature of the electronic slots and their role as the main revenue stream of the gambling industry is not widely understood. Industry data show that 70-80% of the revenue of casinos come from these mac…

Pentecostal Prayer Gangs: New Film Documents Religion in a Brazilian Prison

By Nick Street

…ader. What was the culture of the prison? At night, there was one guard for 800 prisoners. In the Rio prison system there’s no real government presence; state control in the prisons is just a façade. The prison gangs are the most powerful presence, but the church exerts a strong influence too. There were about 400 inmates in the gang camp inside the prison, and 40 to 50 in the church camp. The rest were neutral people who kept to themselves in the…

Lifestyles of the Rich and Pious

By Patricia Miller

…nd for the poor.” CNN reports that “10 of the 34 active archbishops in the United States live in buildings worth more than $1 million.” The median home value in the U.S. is $174,200. Not surprisingly, that list includes some of the nation’s most outspoken conservative bishops—and allies of the Republican Party—who seem to take the whole “prince of the church” thing more literally than some of their fellow prelates. Here’s a rundown: • New York Car…

The C Word

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

As a Christian it has never truly occurred to me to think about where the “best” place might be for me to work, but a new survey on the “Best Christian Places to Work in the US and Canada” has me thinking. Certainly, as a person of faith who is concerned about the environment, I don’t think I’d pursue a job at a nuclear plant or at a company clear-cutting forests. But, overall, I consider just about any place of employment a great place to be whi…

Too Hot for Shul: Rabbis Seek Healthy Israel Dialogue After Gaza

By Sarah Posner

…e for Peace, on whose Rabbinical Council he serves. (Compared to J Street’s 800-plus-member Rabbinic Cabinet, JVP’s two-year-old Rabbinic Council has just 50.) Rosen told me he was not forced out, but that his decision to step down was driven by “stress between individual congregants and me,” and was made “for my congregation’s well-being and my own well-being.” Rosen described Israel’s 2009 war in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, as the “breaking point…

Mormon Bloggernacle is No Choir

By Krista Kapralos

…ly, would preserve their faith. When people from Europe and throughout the United States converted, they were urged to gather with other Mormons. Together, in some of the largest wagon trains to ever cross American soil, Mormons followed the church leaders as they hopped about the Midwest, finally landing in what would later be called Utah, where they established a permanent home. It was Zion, they said. Today, the LDS church is so large that no s…

Prosperity Gospel Is Not the Only Problem with Joel Osteen’s Harvey Response

By Brie Loskota and Peter Gudaitis

…communities” into disaster preparedness, including faith communities. The United States has a deeply religious and diverse population, with more than 70 percent identifying as an adherent of a faith. FEMA has urged emergency managers and VOAD partners to increase their religious literacy and competency to serve all Americans. To that end, thousands of emergency responders have taken a FEMA course we authored on the subject. Making sure congregati…

Vatican Reverses Anti-Liberation Policies in Mexico

By Ruth Chojnacki and Jennifer Scheper Hughes

…ate, an ancient institution revived by Vatican II. In 2000, 341 of Mexico’s 800 deacons served the Diocese of San Cristobal, the largest number of deacons in any Catholic diocese in the world. Vatican suspicion of Bishop Ruiz’s liberationist pastoral strategy resulted in a failed attempt to remove him in 1993. The deacon program came under particular scrutiny after the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, with reports that Maya catechists defied th…