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Oral Roberts, Pioneering Televangelist, Dies

By Anthea Butler

…d the lavish lifestyle of the Roberts family). Roberts’ daughter died in a plane crash alongside her husband and, in 1980, Roberts’ son committed suicide after being arrested for drug use. The recent 2007 scandal involving finances at ORU, and accusations of Richard Roberts’ second wife Lindsay’s behavior with male ORU students was enough to bring Oral out of retirement and back at the helm of ORU for a short period of time. Whatever might be said…

Conservative Bishops Unhappy At Synod, But Ignore Walkout Call; Australian Religious Leaders Step Up Marriage Equality Opposition; Italy Debates Civil Unions; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…eople are often seen as being mentally ill or as being possessed with “bad spirits.” “Usually the Kru Khmer will chant something [at the LGBT person], sometimes they burn the head, back or palm,” Srun Srorn, an LGBT activist, says of a typical “curing” ritual. “When they burn they believe the bad spirits will fly away. Sometimes they use the bamboo to hit the person.” Homosexuality is not criminalized in Cambodia, which is a predominantly Buddhist…

After Ferguson: America Must Abandon “Sick Christianity” at Ease With Violence

By Willie James Jennings

…ife and the destruction of property as though these things are on the same plane of moral existence. Black life has always lost out in that calculus, because the ideas of law and order have overwhelmingly been orientated toward the protection of property and not black bodies. Christianity in America has much too often served as the high priest of this sick reality of law and order, too quickly aligning our biblical visions of sin and punishment to…

If You Liked The Martian You’ll Love These 3 Sci-Fi Shorts

By Andrew Aghapour

…How do you get water out of rocket fuel?) Scott highlights this pragmatic spirit with a visual gag: after Watney narrowly escapes death, he is shown contemplating a statuette of Jesus on the cross… before cutting it to pieces. The cross wasn’t even Watney’s; he found it in a crewmate’s bunk while looking for something to burn. The Martian owes its scientific fluency and unabashed pragmatism to Andy Weir, author of the novel that inspired the film…

RDBook: Selling the Good News

By Sarah Posner

…hts-era culture. The first, Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace, by Tulane University sociologist Shayne Lee and historian Phillip Luke Sinitiere, is a primer on five prominent evangelicals: Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Paula White, Brian McLaren, and Rick Warren. By design, Holy Mavericks examines these figures through the prism of their marketing, whether through megachurch, television, or other media. Although McLar…

Conservative Points in Pope’s Speech Include Liberal “Chasers”

By Patricia Miller

…ry act of returning issues like abortion and same-sex marriage to the same plane of concern as the environment, poverty and immigration. Francis has removed the anti-abortion trump card that allowed conservative Catholics and their allies to ignore most of the church’s social justice teaching on issues like immigration and poverty and still be assured they were “good Catholics.” He explicitly challenged the long-standing contention of the US Catho…

Santorum and Huckabee Question Authority

By Sarah Posner

…ly the ones running for the highest office in the land — respecting moral, spiritual, and legal authority. The Bible is inerrant, the Constitution is divinely inspired, America’s downfall is due to its retreat from following Judeo-Christian truths enshrined in the Constitution. That’s why recent comments by Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, both of whom are looking to reprise their 2008 and 2012 presidential runs, makes one think Santorum might nee…

Found in Translation: How a Thirteenth-Century Islamic Poet Conquered America

By Ryann Croken

…ip between the poet and his most popular translator, Coleman Barks. On the spiritual and textual plane in which Rumi and Barks encounter one another, we find not a clash, but a fusion of civilizations, out of which has emerged a 13th-century Sufi devotee who is devastatingly fluent in postmodern American English. As throngs of Americans now worship Rumi for the way he worshipped Allah—at a time in which “Allah” has become a scary word in the “West…

Ministries of Presence: A Report from Nepal

By Cathleen Falsani

…, and meet new people.” Kruger says it was “blind faith” that got him on a plane to Kathmandu less than 24 hours after one of the other guys suggested he should make the trip. “My faith drives me to love everyone,” Kruger said, “and to show that love through my actions, with the understanding that I am no better for my faith or experience/knowledge. That is the ideal, not always easily practiced.” Love, Forgiveness, and Compassion Children at Chha…

Resurrecting Marley at 70: Rastafari History in 5 Songs

By Darren J. N. Middleton

…n 1960, and who eventually taught Marley all he knew, disembarked from the plane with Selassie, and Planno seemed as surprised as the others in attendance when His Imperial Majesty refused to walk down the red carpet rolled out for his arrival. To this day, Rastas mark the Elect of God’s act of humility with an annual ritual, Grounation Day, and Tarrus Riley’s tuneful homage to this auspicious visit, set over a Nyabinghi drum pattern (three drums…