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Blame Series Bonus: Why We Want That Dish For Free, an Uncut Interview with Bertram Malle

By Andrew Aghapour

…ividual people for individual behavior, even if the institution as a whole might be trusted and might be just.) So maybe one way to think about this is that if we find ourselves blaming institutions, we’re already using a flawed set of psychological mechanisms, because institutions don’t act the way that individuals do? I wouldn’t put it quite the way that you said it—it’s not that we’re using flawed psychological mechanisms. We’re using the only…

Pope Praises ‘Complementarity’ & Resists Gay Ambassador; Irish Religious Leaders Spar Over Marriage; Colombian Atty Gen Cites ‘Bogus’ Study Opposing Adoption; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…nee forward to the Holy See if it knew following informal talks that the nominee might not be seen as acceptable. Since the row erupted, the Elysée palace has insisted that “Laurent Stefanini is the only candidate nominated by the Republic and the council of ministers”. His nomination also has the support of the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois. Also this week, the Catholic News Agency touted remarks by Francis focusing on the “comp…

Paranormal Vodka, Exorcists and a Demonic Doll: Welcome to Paracon, Based on the Work of the Demon-Hunters Who Inspired the ‘Conjuring’ Series

By Eric Harrelson and Joseph P. Laycock

…luding a skull used in “Satanic rituals,” the “Necromonicin” (a ridiculous misspelling of Necronomicon that somehow made it onto the object’s description card), clothing that the Warrens themselves supposedly wore, and even some other demonic dolls. But Annabelle—the subject of three horror films—is the queen of the exhibit and the one object everyone has to not only see but get a picture with. Similar to the Hindu concept of darsan, Paracon-goers…

Keep Jews Interesting: It’s Time to Stop Being Defined by Anti-Semitism

By Shaul Magid

…Upon what foundations would our Judaism stand if the attitude that “anti-Semitism is the grand unified theory of everything” simply were not true? Thus, Israel can then never quite be evaluated like any other country because hovering over a deep critique of it is the shadow of anti-Semitism. So when many Jews argue that Israel is treated unfairly or exceptionally (and in many cases that is true), defense of the state also often contains its own ex…

Spiritual Unplugging, Or What to Do When There is Wifi at the Ashram

By Matt Hamilton

…my mom, sautéeing vegetables while watching the evening news; my dad, reading the newspaper and sipping coffee at the table; my boyfriend, practicing the piano. I could only see them in my mind’s eye and love them. With my phone and laptop stowed in my bag, I stood 8,000 miles away and felt broken and inadequate—but so present and so loved….

Pop-Culture Angels Are More Than Just Embarrassing Kitsch

By Ed Simon

…y from Victorian sentimentalism. Such angels are on sale at reduced price; cheap wares for cheap faith. It would be an error, however, to fully dismiss pop culture angels. Despite the fact that representations of angels in film and television, comics and music, paperback novels and posters, are filtered through market concerns, such pop culture can still speak to human meaning—and because of that they merit our attention. Besides, the bulk of art…

Snake-Handlers, False Messiahs, and a Few Great Souls: 14 Who Died in 2014

By Daniel Silliman

…enced “an outpouring of the Holy Spirit”that believers said sounded like a mighty wind. An estimated 2.5 million attended the revival by 1998. Jamie Coots A third-generation signs-following pentecostal preacher who handled venomous snakes in worship, Jamie Coots was bitten and died refusing medical treatment. He was 42. Coots was pastor of a snake-handling church of 30, in Middlesboro, Ky., and the subject of a reality TV show called Snake Salvati…

How Much Did Jesus Care About Sex?

By Peter Laarman

…by his sexuality and in love with and engaged to Maria von Wedemeyer, the granddaughter of one of his patrons, just three weeks before his arrest. Segue to my second and primary point: Bonhoeffer’s discussion of cheap grace in The Cost of Discipleship was meant above all as a critique of the so-called “German Christians”—the Lutherans who readily went along with the Nazi program—as against the much smaller group of Lutherans who chose the path o…

Beyond Alarmism and Denial in the Dominionism Debate

By Anthea Butler

…as a Master’s student at Fuller working the switchboard part-time, and the number one phone call that came through went something like this: “Can you connect me to C. Peter Wagner’s Church Growth Institute? I’d like to buy some materials.” No one was happier than I was when he retired from Fuller and moved to Colorado Springs! I felt like I worked at a catalog call-in center. Seriously. I would never have expected to be talking about Wagner in con…

Episcopal Church Assault Data Reveals the Dark Side of Inclusive Christianity

By Charlotte Dalwood

…results of a survey, conducted in 2020, that quantifies the violence epidemic. Based on a similar survey conducted in 2017 amongst United Methodists in the United States, it contributes to the “truth telling” element of a planned truth-and-reconciliation process on gender and sexual abuse in Episcopal spaces. And the truth is horrifying. Of the more than 2400 responses collected, 475 (20%) are from cisgender LGB Episcopalians. Nearly 40% of these…