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How To Talk To “Nones” and Influence People: Rob Bell’s Transrational Experience

By Brook Wilensky-Lanford

…f the above.” Mostly composed of 18-to-34-year-olds, this cohort sees affiliation with a religious institution to be neither necessary nor desirable, even if they are looking to do good work in the world, or to remain “spiritual but not religious.” Rob Bell may not have a building any more, but he does have a space—or rather, many spaces. For this latest book, he’s going on what he calls a “living room” tour. On April 9th, the day of the How To Be…

Should NASA Have Given $1.1 Million to a Theology Institute?

By Michael Schulson

…ved: An overriding ethical obligation to protect and preserve extraterrestrial microbial life and ecosystems should be incorporated into international law.”) The Library has a Chair in Astrobiology and hosts dialogues about astrobiology-and-society issues. Robin Lovin, a prominent Methodist theologian and a senior research fellow at CTI, had been involved in some of the Library of Congress dialogues. At some point, NASA approached the CTI about ap…

Will Catholic Voters Support LGBT Rights in Washington State?

By Joanna Brooks

…the decision will be made. We are participating in a Catholic-to-Catholic phone bank that Washington United for Marriage has set up on Wednesday nights and we assist with the larger phone bank at the Jewish synagogue downtown. A great deal of our work is communicating with Catholics on our email list and Facebook. As a Catholic, how does your faith shape your views on marriage for LGBT people? My faith blossomed in the 1960s after Vatican II. I h…

A Tale of Religious Tolerance… On Reddit

By Joanna Piacenza

…pean_douchebag” wasn’t questioning which game the woman was playing on her phone, he was referencing the abundance of facial hair on the young woman’s face—a nod towards her Sikh beliefs of not altering her body image. Unaware that others around him might practice faiths besides his own, “european_douchebag” posted the picture under the Reddit tab “Funny,” hoping to get an elbow-in-the-side snickering reaction from the online community. But what h…

Rage or Courage?: YouTube Terrorism Take Two

By Bruce B. Lawrence

…and, before landing in the United States. Her husband is the British historian Niall Ferguson (an Oxford-Harvard professor of empire). There are many differences between the two articles and between the two authors. Ghosh is a professional journalist with a commitment to neutral reportage, while Ali is a professional polemicist, an unabashed critic of both the religion she left (Islam) and the community it projects (Arab-African-Asian Mus…

Mormons Prepare to March in LGBT Pride Parades Nationwide

By Joanna Brooks

…ree different Mormon contingents—Mormons Building Bridges, Mormons for Marriage Equality, and Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons—will walk during the month of June. (Find complete details on LDS pride parade contingents here.) First up is June 3, Salt Lake City. I spoke with Erika Munson, organizer of Salt Lake City’s Mormons Building Bridges group, a contingent of at least 100 self-described “active, faithful” Mormons that has been invited to w…

What Can a Real Life Haunting Tell Us About American Religion? [Updated]

By Daniel Wise

…in ways that surveys or investigations cannot. Which is what led me to Maria. Maria began to suspect the property she was renting in Lancaster, Pennsylvania was haunted after about a month. Weird things kept happening. At Maria’s home, the cabinets were often found open in the kitchen. At first she suspected the cats. Then, at some point Maria and her husband installed a video camera to monitor the room overnight. One morning, they walked out int…

Global LGBT Recap: Nigeria Jails Gays, Russian Orthodox Spox Calls for Criminalization Referendum

By Peter Montgomery

…hrist the Savior and their arrest marked the beginning of a new era in Russia. She described Putin’s ties to the Orthodox Church and his anti-gay policies as part of a larger effort to quell challenges to his power. Says Gessen, “…so what he has done is what every Russian ruler and most dictators in the history of the world have done in these kinds of situations, which is that he has sort of tried to mobilize a potentially loyal constituency again…

Holey Holey Holey: The Problem with a New Study Valuing Religion at $1.2 Trillion Per Year

By Michael Schulson

…ate comes to us from a father and daughter team, Brian and Melissa Grim. Brian is an associate scholar at Georgetown and the founder and director of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, which aims to “[educate] the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business.” Melissa is an RFBF research fellow at the Newseum Institute. Their $1.16 trillion estimate is a staggering amount of money—something like 7% of the U…

Does Record Number of Religious “Nones” Mean Decline of Religiosity?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…idden, mechanisms propelling us through time and space. Judging by the media excitement over the latest poll illustrating continued growth in the number of people who answer “none” when asked with what religion they are affiliated, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life seems to have pulled a similar trick for those interested in how religion is changing in America. “‘Nones’ On the Rise,” released on October 9 by Pew in affiliation with PBS’ Rel…