Search for "cheap airline tickets to st louis mo phone number 1-800-299-7264"

Did the Pope Embrace the Prosperity Gospel?

By Sarah Posner

…ing his first presidential campaign that Copeland was “arguably one of the most important religious leaders in the nation.” The Committee, in the end, opted for “self-reform” by these ministries, rather than greater government oversight, because “according to the Committee’s staff memo, there was a ‘high level of distrust‘ of the government by the churches under investigation and the religious advocacy groups that supported them.” The Committee’s…

Normalization is Control: Telling Stories to Survive

By Mariam Durrani

…personal feelings about becoming president, “repeatedly minimizing Trump’s most dangerous promises as mere campaign talk.” The description of the media’s treatment of president-elect Trump as a normalizing tactic leads me to ask: why would they do this? How can they say that the anti-Trump protesters just don’t understand who Trump is, which is what he said to Stahl when asked about the people protesting him. Exactly how are his anti-immigrant, an…

Gambian Leaders Portray Anti-Gay Law as Defense of Islam, Ugandan Politicians as ‘Christmas Gift’; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…to the violent persecution of sexual minorities are now speaking out. In almo*]}*st all Sub-Saharan African countries, religious voices against hate are slowly emerging. Since these leaders are preaching love and acceptance of sexual minorities as opposed to hatred, anti-gay pastors’ voices are now being challenged. To dismiss their critical voices, they are being branded as homosexuals themselves. African anti-gay pastors and their U.S. Right allies…

Are Atheists Taking 1st Amendment Suits Too Far?

By Gordon Haber

…owance of around $80,000 per year, which (probably not coincidentally) was most of his salary. The IRS guideline, however, was that clergy can only claim “fair market value” of the home, and the rental value of the house in question was $60,000 a year. The IRS wanted Warren to cough up the taxes on the difference. Instead, he sued. Before the judge could rule, Congress passed the Clergy Housing Allowance Clarification Act, changing the fair market…

“Stress Test” a Con: Obama Still Coddling Banks

By Peter Laarman

…taken over, cleaned up, and broken up by direct government action. What is most bothersome to me about the Big Con being perpetrated today is the absolutely supine and credulous “reporting” of the whole affair in the corporate media. Only a tiny number of outlier critics—like Simon Johnson—are given any air time at all. Everybody else, from NPR to Fox News, goes right along with the cute “stress test” metaphor, forgetting that the so-called patien…

Something So Broken: What’s Frightening About Beasts of the Southern Wild

By Michael Pasquier

…t on to win the Caméra d’Or (best first film) at the Cannes Film Festival. Most critics have gone out of their way to lavishly praise Beasts, with one writing that its “passionate and unruly explosion of Americana” that “reminds us not just of the unlimited possibilities of outside cinema, but of something true and intrinsic within ourselves.” Others have withheld such adulation citing the film’s “screw-tightening methods,” smothering musical scor…

Why Faith Needs Redemptive Struggle to Be Meaningful

By Liz Theoharis

…nd why even President Obama won’t use the word “poor” when it’s one of the most prominent words and themes in the Bible. I am always reminded of the Book of James when I observe the theory and theology of Rev. Barber: The biblical writer and Rev. Barber both insist that a vital Christian faith propels us into the struggle for basic justice, that faith without redemptive struggle is dead. We all owe Rev. Barber a debt of gratitude, both for his lea…

The Right Questions Kamala Harris’ Blackness — Yet as Long as She Holds Any Power She’ll Always Be Too Black for Them

By Mary Rambaran-Olm

…o because the complexity of her mixedness still makes her an “other.” It almo*]}*st seems like a David Attenborough nature documentary, only now we’re watching alabastarians come to the realization that mixed race people do in fact exist. In any case, it’s 2024 and race science is back in fashion, so let’s grab our calipers and do some skull-measuring! MAGA isn’t just ready to make America great again and again, it’s ready to lend a hand when it comes…

Fox Makes Mockery Of Promise To Rein In Beck’s Anti-Semitism

By Sarah Posner

…and Beck’s producer, Joel Cheatwood, in July, during which: We spoke for almo*]}*st an hour about the concerns held by many Jews and Jewish leaders about Glenn Beck’s constant and often inappropriate invocation of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany on the air. We were assured by Ailes and Cheatwood that they understand our concerns and would explain them to Beck. Two days later, I received a hand-written note from Glenn Beck, which stated: “Simon, Joel sh…

The Burning Houses of Worship We Missed

By Gordon Haber

…g District of Western China, where officials have reportedly bulldozed over 800 mosques. Authorities have also detained hundreds of thousands of Uighurs in re-education camps. The scale of the suffering is difficult to imagine. In fairness, there’s been a lot of good reporting about the plight of the Uighurs. And yet I believe the outpouring of emotion for more recognizable places—especially Notre Dame—is instructive. Samuel Johnson defined sympat…