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Politics in a Fallen World: Lying, Fact-Checkers, and the Future of Civilization

By Michael Schulson

…ful. So: is the devil going to win? The devil did win. We live in a fallen world. We live in a fallen world, but as the centuries progress, no, actually, the system of the world as it is constituted—lying is in fact what allows the world to flourish. So if you read Pierre Nicole, who’s a Jansenist theologian in the 17th century, he is a Biblical hardliner and would think that every lie is a sin. But he says, you actually could not tell the differe…

Two Former Nuns Get Civil Union in Italy; Kenyan Govt Partners with World Congress of Families; Mexican Activists Debate Outing of Priests; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…nter for European Studies at Harvard University, published an op ed in the New York Times entitled “Germany’s Retrograde Record on Gay Rights.” Görlach identifies Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Christian Democratic Union party as the reason Germany does not recognize marriage equality, something Merkel has said explicitly will not be a reality as long as she is in office. Ms. Merkel governs in partnership with the left-wing Social Democrats, who…

God TV: Televangelism 2.0

By Sarah Posner

…ed in England in 1997, moved its headquarters in 2002. Broadcasting from Jerusalem, say Rory and Wendy Alec, God TV’s founders, is a fulfillment of a prophecy, just like the founding of the Israeli state. The May 11 appointment with God brought a supernatural realization of His promises to you. Just send in your petition to Rory and Wendy, and they will place it at the altar in Jerusalem. And then let the miracles begin. If this seems strangely, e…

Monstrous Futures: Dungeons & Dragons, Harbinger of the “None” Generation, Turns 40

By Robert M. Geraci

…s as marking the imminent end of the world—thereby predicting a reformed Jerusalem and the advent of a divine kingdom, all observed through monsters and magic. As harbingers of doom and joy both, bestiaries are part of historical transitions and inaugurate new religious visions. Of the book’s Reformation context, the New York Review of Books’ Marina Warner noted that: [T]he new focus on reading the Bible led to a resurgence of interest in stories…

Does War Make Sense? Science and Religion on the Battlefield

By Nathan Schneider

…to operate like gears of a mechanism, the smoother their deadly work could run. The Prussian army’s 1726 manual divided the process of loading and firing a musket into 76 separate stages. Commanders drilled such precision into their soldiers with minute efficiency, teaching them to march in geometric columns (at exactly 75 steps per minute) against the enemy’s geometric fortifications. King Frederick the Great’s army could fire sustained volleys w…

Of God, But Not God: A Methodist Minister Speaks About Church’s Refusal to Open Its Doors to LGBT

By Joel Pitney

…e church. I truly think that can happen. I know it can happen because I’ve lived it. I’ve lived it in Eugene. When we became a reconciling congregation, not only did the doors open wider, but many of the gatekeepers of the old rigid order left. We were then able to be the church in a new way. We weren’t just church on Sunday morning, we were church outside the doors. We were church on the steps of the Capitol building. We were church feeding homel…

LGBT Editor In Bangladesh Murdered by Islamists—and More, In this Week’s Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ction from harassment and abuse against women and LGBTI people in the real world exists in the online world too.” Colombia: Court gives final approval to marriage equality The Constitutional Court gave final approval to legal marriage equality on Thursday, April 28, after waiting for nearly five years for Congress to act on a 2011 ruling that said couples had the right to ask judges and notaries to solemnize their relationships. From Human Rights…

Rites, Rituals, and the King

By Amina Wadud

…t irresponsibly removed from our encounters on the earth. It’s a balance, trust me. The five times daily prayer, or salah, perfectly reflects the harmony of this totality. There are four major positions taken up by the able bodied. First we stand (facing towards Makkah, easy to find these days with the iphone!), then we bow at the waist in the ruku’, from which each unit of the performance gets its name, a rakah; then we prostrate with nose, foreh…

Religious Right Reax to SCOTUS: “A Spiritual 9/11”

By Peter Montgomery

…as diverse as ours, good people who have opposing views should be able to live side by side. It is now crucial that as a country we protect religious freedom and the right of conscience and also not discriminate. Scott Walker reaffirmed his call for a constitutional amendment. The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins declared that “the Supreme Court has set our government on a collision course with America’s cherished religious freedoms, explic…

Turn On The News: This Isn’t a Split, It’s a Tiny Sliver of Conservatives Walking Out the Door — Introducing A New Media Criticism Column

By Daniel Schultz

…e plans of a bunch of conservative straight white Christian men to start a new and stricter denomination. Fortunately, we don’t have to imagine. This Religion News Service piece by Kathryn Post serves it up on a platter, discussing the breakaway aspirations of the Alliance of Reformed Churches. Helpfully, the article includes the ARC logo for identification purposes. I want to talk about Post’s story in some detail to inaugurate what I hope will b…