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Dispatches from the Borderlands: Missing Voices

By Daniel Ramirez

…Adventist, Assemblies of God, and United Pentecostal Church International out*]}*number the domestic membership of these quintessentially American denominations. As globalizing churches they can ill afford to remain captive inside Fortress America; as pilgrim churches they remind all Americans of our time as sojourners and of the enduring value of hospitality. Their histories and religious texts offer examples of trespassers, lawbreakers, and refugees…

On Eve of Sudan Split Clashes Continue

By Ashley Makar

…ar, though largely Christian group now ready to declare independence for Southern Sudan. But the Khartoum government and the SPLM have not agreed on how they will share Sudan’s oil reserves, and ethnic conflicts on the borderlands could signal a return of the war. As Southern Sudan prepares for its independence day, militias allied with the SPLM are mobilizing in the Nuba Mountains to fight for a secular, democratic, autonomous state of their own…

Despising the Holidays: When Christians Led the ‘War on Christmas’

By Ed Simon

…Charles II – countrymen across the Atlantic in Massachusetts and Connecticut made the celebration of Christmas punishable by a five shilling fine. The contemporary Christian Right often claims that the New England Puritans are their intellectual ancestors, but this is willfully misreading the historical record as surely as creationists misread biological evidence. Contemporary American fundamentalism, from its pre-millennial dispensationalist esc…

Springtime for Ross Douthat?

By Daniel Schultz

…[Dan didn’t write this one, for example. –the eds]. Also, I should point out that Douthat’s first three paragraphs go off without him tripping over his own shoelaces. The fourth paragraph is where he begins to fumble. It’s not just that the columnist relies on an old and now discredited theory about liberalism being the source of the decline in mainline Protestantism. It’s not just that he ignores evidence that church decline affects conservative…

Churches Can No Longer Hide the Truth: Daniel Dennett on the New Transparency

By Andrew Aghapour

…to come to terms with the facts. Dennett spoke recently with The Cubit about institutional transparency, the parallels between religious and atheistic fundamentalism, and the future of religion. You describe non-believing clergy as “canaries in a coal mine.” Why does this group hold such significance for understanding the future of religion? I think that we are now entering a really disruptive age in the history of human civilization, thanks to t…

Israel’s Immigration Debate: “Where is the Jewish Spirit?”

By Mati Wagner

…read, to write and to add and subtract—in Hebrew. They also were taught about the miraculous creation of the Jewish state and about Jewish holidays. They played Israeli games and sang Israeli songs, dressed up on Purim and ate Matzoh on Passover. An Age-Old Dispute What is the proper Jewish answer to these children? If you ask Interior Minister Eli Yishai, of Shas, an Israeli haredi political party with a constituency of traditional-minded Jewish…

“Hey You! Anti-Semite!”: A Jewish Krewe does Mardi Gras

By Barbra Barnett

…we members parade in black-face makeup, wearing grass skirts, and handing out coconuts to the crowd. Depictions of civic leaders in such stereotypically racist forms would be unheard of any other time of year. But on Mardi Gras day, Zulu owns them. Carnival season is the ideal time for these kinds of transgressive public spectacles that challenge convention. In this respect, the traditions expressed in New Orleans carnival celebrations go back far…

Is the Satanic Temple Just an Elaborate Prank? 10 Questions for the Author of ‘Speak of the Devil’

By Joseph Laycock

…never been published before. I’m excited about it. It’s basically the demonological equivalent of a music nerd who wants to show you obscure tracts from their record collection. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about your book? If you buy the book, cut out the correct pages using the Fibonacci sequence, and lay them out on the floor in the shape of a pentagram, it will reveal a secret code allowing you to join the ranks of Ill…

A Shining City: The Occupy Movement and the American Soul

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ld. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before all people, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Call it a biblical Sunshine Act, the city on the hill of Jesus’ imagining was not a glittering temple where the idols of unfettered market capitalism wo…

‘People You May Know’ Reveals a War on Democracy Being Waged With Big Data

By Chrissy Stroop

…When I approached people about this initially in the churches, I talked about the modern outreach programs, and how churches are growing digitally in general. And it’s interesting, because churches have traditionally been slow on the uptake with social media and getting digital. Of course, outreach and evangelism is part of the church’s DNA, and that’s fine. And so you start to use social media for that, you’ve got live broadcasts on Facebook, and…