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

…me shows), even when something unintentional happens—say you know that the airline didn’t intentionally keep you from flying—the question that humans often pose is, “Was this preventable?” “Could they have done something to prevent that?” And that’s when we wonder—well, who could have done something to prevent it? The person at the counter? The pilot? The CEO? We don’t know, and so we have, in a sense, a certain disorientation and don’t know to wh…

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

…oommate over a period of months in 1970. Although I can’t find an official number, a casino employee tells us over 5,000 tickets have been sold; 5,000 pilgrims who’ve made the trek from around the country to pay their respects to Annabelle, and are willing to wait hours to do so. On the convention floor, an eclectic group of vendors hocks their wares, from Ouija boards and books about ghost hunting to bath bombs shaped like horror movie icons. The…

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Beyond Alarmism and Denial in the Dominionism Debate

…by a Senate investigation, but by a sex scandal (his accusers, young male parishioners at his church, charged that he used his spiritual authority to coerce them into sex). In investigating televangelism scandals, I found one verse from Scripture quoted repeatedly, in reference to attempts to question leaders: “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” (Psalm 105:15). I’ve interviewed people who truly believed that if they questioned…

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Disaster Theology: Blame and Powerlessness in Japan

…ears,  I now see that things were racing out of control:  People had grown lax and indifferent.  Forming factions and fighting among themselves.  They forgot about obligations and duty.  Ignored notions of loyalty and justice,  And only thought of themselves.  Full of self-conceit, they cheated each other.  Creating an endless, filthy mess.  The world was rife with madness.  No one shared my concern.  Things got worse until the final disaster stru…

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

…self-interrogation boiled, my hand extended to the right. I reached for my phone, but I found nothing. At first I laughed at my instinct, my muscle memory. The phone, with its glowing screen, gave me solace and control. But I was tied to my cushion for another hour, and in this ashram for another day, so email would have to wait. I panicked. My heart raced. Would my editor be asking for me? Would a reply from that politician’s secretary sit unansw…

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Pop-Culture Angels Are More Than Just Embarrassing Kitsch

…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…

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Trump, Islamophobia, and the Philly Pig’s Head Incident

…ific terrorist attacks in Paris, Al-Aqsa mosque in Philadelphia received a phone message stating, “I hope you people are happy about what you did in Paris. I’d like to state for the record that Allah is a piece of pork shit.” A few weeks later, in the early morning hours of December 7, the mosque manager unlocked the front doors for the early morning fajr prayer. As he was about to enter, he noticed the severed head of a pig lying next to the door…

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Put Your Money Where Your Mind Is: A For-Profit Meditation Studio Opens in New York

…age. His 2012 book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar, has sold widely. Over the phone, I asked Rinzler why he and Burrows had chosen to establish the studio as a for-profit company. “We really wanted to make sure we had all the resources we need for supporting people who are trying meditation for the first time,” Rinzler explained. Because they’re a business, there’s more professionalism. The teachers they’ve hired show up on time, and, as Rinzler put…

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How Much Did Jesus Care About Sex?

…cost of true discipleship. The price it was called upon to pay was all too cheap…We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale; we baptized, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation unasked and without condition…Was there ever a more terrible and disastrous instance of Christianizing the world than this? It’s regrettable, I think, that “cheap grace” has turned into a kind of meme that Rod Dreher can toss into his debate with Andrew Sullivan without…

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Tweeting ISIS Attacks: A Lesson in Not Learning a Lesson

…. Hamas, for example, the governing power in the Gaza Strip, condemned the Paris and Beirut bombings, and connected the terrorism Parisians suffer to the terrorism they allege is practiced by Israel. This might strike you as laughable, even offensive. But consider the gravity of the situation. Hamas is not ISIL, and those who confuse the two might one day rue the conflation. My greater fear is that the longer the occupation grinds on, the more ISI…

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