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Church and State in Japan: The Case of the Yasukuni Shrine

By Mark R. Mullins

…e completed. After the war, this ministry was responsible for veterans’ affairs, repatriation of Japanese from overseas, and the Yasukuni Shrine, which had been managed by the Army and Navy. The paper trail revealing cooperation between the Yasukuni Shrine and government offices stretches back to 1956. That year the Ministry of Health and Welfare sent instructions to city and prefecture offices to assist with the shrine’s administrative needs rela…

Papal Retirement: A Matter of Conscience

By Mary E. Hunt

…ement of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is a welcome breath of fresh air. A human being, even a pope, ought to have the option to say enough is enough, I have done what I can do, and now it is time for someone else to take over. I applaud his move and read it as a sign of hope in a dreary ecclesial scene. Speculation about his health is rampant. As with many elders whose offspring plot to take away the car keys, I suspect there was some back…

Cue the Kool-Aid: Watching Jonestown Docs in the ‘Fake News’ Era

By Rebecca Moore

…es. This is the case for the Paramount Network’s miniseries on “Waco” that aired earlier this year. The episodes flesh out the personality of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh (portrayed by Taylor Kitsch), and make his charisma understandable. John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle, the co-creators, also show the conflict that occurred between the FBI negotiators and the FBI hostage rescue team. The fact-based programs about Waco, on the other hand,…

Rapacity and Ruin: The Truth “Leaks” Out on BP and Massey Greed

By Peter Laarman

…that is supposed to be standard operating procedure: i.e. plenty of fresh air supplied through what are called “curtains” that disperse dangerous gases and coal dust building up in the mine. The infusion of fresh air guards against explosions and black lung disease. The men testified that Massey Energy has just one priority, which is maximum daily coal production—not worker safety. None of the testimony is surprising. What is surprising is that…

Desert Prophet of Salvation Mountain Wants to Share his Life Story

By Lauri Lebo

…e he moved to the desert, he now escapes the afternoon heat in a room with air conditioning. I got to know Leonard and Eubank while swimming with them in the irrigation canal where the Slabs folks go to bathe and stay cool. As Leonard washed his hair, I floated in the current as Eubank told me his story. A lifelong social worker, Eubank has dealt with society’s forgotten outcasts, working with the chronically homeless. Eubank is not much of a beli…

Dorito & Pepsi Eucharist, Hate-Pastor Smackdown, and Egyptian Muslims Shield Christians

By Michael J. Altman

…der Fred Phelps. In the end, the WBC agreed not to protest in exchange for air time on various radio programs. So much for refusing to negotiate with terrorists. Doritos yanked an ad entered in its online Super Bowl commercial contest because it substituted Pepsi and Doritos for bread and wine in the Eucharist. Evangelical leader Frank DeMoss has decided to shut down his Civility Project—which sought to keep political discourse, well, civil. Despi…

In Wake of Murder in Uganda, LGBT Group Protests Prayer Breakfast

By Kay Steiger

…strations, responded to Sharlet’s interview in his own appearance on Fresh Air, in which he denied the Family’s involvement in Uganda. “My opinion is it’s a terrible bill and shouldn’t be adopted,” Hunter insisted in the interview, “and I believe no one that I know, in America particularly, and my close friends in Uganda, I know of no one who supports it in the Fellowship.” In an exchange, published on Harper’s website, Sharlet and Hunter trade ar…

Virtual Book Burning and Its Consequences

By Laurie Patton

…l time. Jewish tradition has it that Rabbi Haninah Ben Teradion was burned at the stake with the Torah scroll underneath him for defying the Roman decree against teaching the Torah. As the scroll was burning, he said, “I see the scrolls burning but the letters fly up in the air.” Most interpreters over the centuries, both religious and secular, have taken this statement to mean that ideas are more powerful than the physical letters on a scroll. Bu…

7 Problems with Trump’s Hastily-Tweeted Trans Military Ban

By Sunnivie Brydum

…ednesday. “Transgender doesn’t matter. Do your service.” Logan Ireland, an Air Force Staff Sergeant currently stationed in Colorado, offered a similar invitation. Ireland is a transgender man who recently returned from an overseas deployment, and who previously made history as the first uniformed, active-duty transgender service member to meet a sitting U.S. president, when he and his wife, Army veteran Laila Ireland (neé Villanueva), were invited…

2012 GOP Candidate Would Reinstate DADT

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…to Pentagon statistics. And the disparity could soon widen: Data from the Air Force indicate that 87 percent of those seeking to become chaplains are enrolled at evangelical divinity schools. The source of the problem is fairly obvious—more liberal-leaning mainline denominations have an uneasy, if not contentious, relationship with the armed forces. Eden Theological Seminary President Rev. David Greenhaw acknowledged that problem even as the scho…