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The Garden of Eden: A Dull Place? Paradise Lust Author Explains…

By Nathan Schneider

…hunting grounds” called Dilmun is a nice place, sure, but also noted to be useful as a convenient location for trading. In their flood story which precedes Noah’s Ark, the gods (note the plural) decide to flood the world because the humans are making too much noise and keeping them awake at night. This idea of perfection and paradise that we associate with Eden really came along later, as the story evolved into the biblical canon. Okay. Back to Ir…

Does Conservative Watchdog Actually “Get Religion”?

By Joanna Brooks

…o acknowledged two valid perspectives on religious experience: one that focuses on religious institutions, their policies, their projects, and the “official” story, and another that focuses on the way religion is lived everyday in “unofficial” yet very real ways by common people of faith. Mattingly clearly cares about promoting precise descriptions of orthodox institutional religious doctrines and policies. But that doesn’t mean that he “gets reli…

A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Unemployed from being a Burden to
the Rich

By Lauri Lebo

…The result, though, is it makes it easier to legally shoot people. Now, I bet you see where this is going. The column is so terrific it really needs to be read in its entirety. Seriously. Read it. But Argento does see a potential downside to the plan. Of course, some people may object because of all of that stuff in the Bible about caring for the poor and being your brother’s keeper and such. They may point to the Sermon on the Mount, in which Je…

Taqwacore Roundtable: On Punks, the Media, and the Meaning of “Muslim”

By Shahjehan Khan

…(I would disagree with BU’s characterization as ‘awful’, seeing as we all used/abused the term to some degree), but has become more of a burden as time has gone on. Any label is usually exclusionary, and artists usually hate them. I most certainly believe in an afterlife, and would call myself a Muslim. HR: This question of blasphemous content is so interesting, because there is such a long history of these types of lyrics and approaches in Islam…

End-Times Watcher Sees Satan in an Energy Drink

By William R. Black

…Ever since the Book of Revelation was written, Christians have tried to decode it. They have used gematria to prove that Muhammad, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and countless popes were the Beast. Some have noted with dread that each of Ronald Wilson Reagan’s three names contained six letters. Indeed, when the Reagans retired to Bel Air in 1989, they asked to have their new address changed from 666 to 668 St. Cloud Road…

Why Trump’s Evangelicals Won’t Care About Those Budget Cuts

By Julie Ingersoll

…some aspects of the Trump agenda are merely tolerated by evangelicals because they care more about fighting abortion/LGBTQ rights and “preserving” their privilege in the name of religious freedom. But the support for tax cuts, over assistance for those in need, is not just a gift from Trump to his rich friends, tolerated by evangelicals because they care more about other issues. These budget cuts are in keeping with the religious right’s understa…

Tea Party Bullies on Homosexuality: “No Punishment Too Severe?”

By Julie Ingersoll

…DeMint reportedly said that people encouraged him in his position limiting freedom for gays and lesbians, saying he “shouldn’t back down. [The people who agree with him] don’t want government purging their rights and their freedom to religion.” As I reported here months ago, DeMint has been using a Christian Reconstructionist group’s mailing list for fundraising, indicating that, at least in part, he thinks he and they are compatible. Reconstructi…

Women’s Equality in the Church is No Longer Negotiable

By Mary E. Hunt

…r what grounds them biologically. Being “created in the image of God” is a better bet. We are all learning together about this, some of us more willing to admit what we do not know than others. But we can certainly agree in the meantime that persons trump genitals, that competence and willingness to serve are far more relevant than gender identity when it comes to Christian life. This means ordination and decision making for women on a par with me…

Akin and the God Factor

By Sarah Posner

…er an issue—legalized abortion, and more generally, the need to rebuild America as a “Christian Nation”—about which he feels very passionately; it may very well be what made him run for office in the first place. And thanks to the scorn and mockery he has now attracted, this relatively obscure congressman whom I’d bet half the pundits discussing his fate today had barely heard of before his primary win, is a National Superstar, the very embodiment…

The End of Trust: YouTube, Lies and Videotape

By Trey Lyon

…eing afraid of people and ideas that are somehow “other” than what they’re used to. But there’s a lot more happening here. I’m willing to bet that there’s something more sinister at work. The truth is, this video wasn’t made for my eyes—the tech-savvy, Google-happy, myth-busting Gen X-er who doesn’t trust the system. It was made for my Great Aunt. And for that matter, everybody else’s Great Aunt. So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised when I’m typing a…