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Can a Greek Monastery Be Ground Zero of Global Financial Meltdown?

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…dark with a pile of borrowed money, was to turn their government into a piñata stuffed with fantastic sums and give as many citizens as possible a whack at it. Once the shocking state of the Greek economy became clear to the international community and representatives from the IMF and the EU had a closer look at the Greek books, the story we’ve all heard in pieces began to emerge. Nationalized industries like the railroads paid employees salari…

Noah v. Kitschy Jesus: A Tale of Two Movies

By Jay Michaelson

…dolescent alienation that I shared with, I’ll wager, many readers of this magazine was a temporary phase. It did, in fact, get better, precisely when one saw through and transcended what had once felt like absolutes. Many of these clichés were aesthetic: football quarterbacks and lettermen, pickup trucks and teased hair. Others were ethical: the ‘common sense’ notions we took apart in philosophy class, the simplistic myths of religion. Others, for…

Note for Today

By Amina Wadud

…Hajji Umar, for example. It can also be used alone, the way we say sir or ma’am. Occasionally it is used for an older person to show respect even if the person has not actually made the pilgrimage. But mostly, it is about a status. I think about this now, since I have actually waited almost 30 years since I tried to go the first time. If I had gone then, I would surely be less anxious to do it again at this age. But then, I may not have considered…

Sarah Palin and the Politics of Victimization

By Randall Balmer

…taking cheap shots at political adversaries (including McCain campaign apparatchiks) and using the annoying, sophomoric reference to the Democratic Party as the “Democrat” Party. But Going Rogue was not unpleasant. The second book in the Sarah Palin œuvre, however, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, crosses the line from cute puppy bouncing on his back legs to mangy cur relentlessly humping a visitor’s leg. By all accounts—…

Why the ‘Confession & Redemption’ Path is Unlikely to Help Falwell Recover from Sex Scandal

By Chrissy Stroop

…losely all day. Indeed, the exciting conclusion of the Falwell “pool boy” saga upstaged the first day of the Republican National Convention to some extent, at least on political Twitter. https://twitter.com/RobGeorge/status/1297948042218426371?s=20 https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1298042172432949253?s=20 On Sunday night Falwell apparently attempted to get ahead of Reuters’ explosive scoop dropped Monday morning by blaming everything on his…

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

By Chrissy Stroop

…s, London-based American expat Charles Kriel developed an interest in big data and its use in disinformation campaigns. This eventually led to his appointment as special advisor on fake news to the House of Commons’ DCMS (Digital, Culture, Media, Sport) select committee as it investigated the roles Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, and Russia played in influencing the Brexit referendum. Disappointed with Britain’s lack of political will to pursue nee…

I Agree: Critical Race Theory is Indeed Incompatible With Southern Baptist Convention’s ‘Faith and Message’

By Miguel A. De La Torre

…s doctrinal beliefs makes these seminaries incongruent with any liberative analysis which might bring healing from the institutionalized racism these six seminaries maintain and sustain. If these six white men were to seriously consider Critical Race Theory, they would have to confront their complicity with the institutional violence I—as an alumni of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary—experienced. T…

Turn on the News: Some Abortion Opponents May Opt For a New Vaccine, But Behind Their Skepticism it’s Often a Different Story — of Disinformation, Conspiratorial Thinking, and White Nationalism

By Daniel Schultz

…work of this piece by Jack Jenkins for Religion News Service: Q: Could Novavax win over some religious vaccine skeptics? A: No. This has been another edition of ‘Simple Answers to Simple Questions.’ These days, I’m willing to give Jenkins’ question a “probably not,” with some explanation. Let’s stipulate that the Novavax COVID shot, which is currently pending FDA approval, could potentially be attractive to some religious holdouts. According to t…

Evangelicals Clutching Pearls Over Student Debt Relief: Lord Have Mercy!

By Peter Laarman

…cites the reactions of three guys. The first, an Anglican priest from Indiana, is all in on debt forgiveness. This guy actually does quote Jesus a lot. The second guy, from the Cato Institute (that well-known Christian organization), says that you can’t apply biblical texts related to an ancient agrarian society to our situation. The third guy, who works for a Washington PR firm, says let’s not debate this at all: Instead, we should humbly engage…

Hajj Journal: Tawaf: How I Fell in Love…

By Amina Wadud

…ertain du’a (including asking for ANYTHING you want), and then make two rakaats. Most people are so overwhelmed at the sight of it, they simply dissolve into tears. For Muslims, this is the psychological center. The heart of our daily prayers. We see it in our mind’s eye, we reproduce it as a design on our prayer rugs. But the real thing. WOW! The way the city has built up around the Ka’abah, which was originally constructed in a valley between su…