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The Next Islamists: The Wide Green Smudge That’s Changing Our World

…cerns itself with anecdotes, anthropology, and economics, informing us how new connections are organically emerging—in astonishing number—between rising Arabs, looking to invest massive sums of wealth in new markets, and risen China, a positive model for socially stable growth. These links involve much more than oil alone (Simpfendorfer makes much of the place of Islam in these relationships), but oil has produced the hundreds of billions that now…

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Liberal or Literal? James Wood, Terry Eagleton, and the New Atheism

…t critic James Wood’s recent, provocative essay/review of Terry Eagleton’s new book, itself a broadside against the New Atheists, in particular Richard Dawkins. Readers who are scholars of religion were puzzled, too. What exactly are Wood’s own views, and what do they tell us about the way “religion” is regarded by certain public intellectuals? Since we are already riding piggyback here, I will ignore Eagleton’s and Dawkins’ books in order to expo…

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Change, Not Charity: What Ails the New Left-Right Coalition Against Poverty

…ent of the obfuscation and blame-shifting when I realized that the bulk of new philanthropy going on in New York in the 1990s—an interventionist philanthropy very much focused on support for the deserving poor—was being initiated by committed Democrats. One fast-rising new charity raised staggering amounts from hip young Democratic money managers at its annual galas. It spelled out its approach in big bold letters for all to see: no, we do NOT fun…

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How New Religions Are Made

…ople would also read. I have been inspired by the marvelous writers of the New Yorker, and so I tried to write the book with some of the literary qualities of the best non-fiction I read in that magazine (as I was also filling my head with academic writing). In sum, I thought of my audience as a New Yorker audience—educated, but not necessarily academics or specialists. You have a pretty strong critique of Melville Herskovits and his pathbreaking…

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The Sacred and the Dead: Truckin’ as a New American Pilgrimage

…de (aka “Dudeism”), a religion based on the Coen Brothers’ film The Big Lebowski and Oprah Winfrey is arguably the most important national spiritual leader. That is why the Grateful Dead is not just a band, but also a new American religious community. And “Truckin’” is not just a song, but also sacred text extolling the value and virtue of a new American pilgrimage, a journey that is at once physical, spiritual, and musical….

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‘When I Spoke in Tongues’ Points the Way Out of Fundamentalist Christianity

…In leaving, there are social consequences and challenges in navigating the new world—a new meaning system—one that’s quite different from the religious one. Research shows that individuals who leave Christian fundamentalism experience a situational crisis in leaving the religion—a unique meaning-making framework focused on the sacred and divine—and undergo a meaning-making process to achieve a positive resolution in leaving the religion. The meani…

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Progressive & Religious

…across lines that divide us to work for justice and the common good. This new face of religion is certainly important for people who care about religion. But politically progressive people should care about this new religious movement—primarily because it is genuinely progressive. Every major movement for social change in this country has had religious leaders in the leadership. By trying to avoid religion and deeply held values—either because of…

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Prosperity, Spiritual Warfare, and the ‘On-Demand’ God

…s a result, the long-term health and strength of Prosperity Gospel and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) rests on the elevation and promotion of these practices above all others. The deviations, then, are just as important in understanding how Pentecostalism is being reshaped and redefined. The Prosperity Gospel has had several names throughout its history, including the “Health and Wealth Gospel” and, as noted above, “Word of Faith,” whose ante…

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Heresy, Bad Taste, or Capitalist Adventure: Is it Still Pentecostalism?

…eir home churches and satellite churches around the country and the world. New Apostolic Reformation The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), on the other hand, has been able to operate somewhat out of the general public’s purview, save for the work of writers at Talk To Action, who have chronicled the changes and escalations in the movement. The NAR roots are also firmly within the boundaries of the historic Pentecostal movement. Foundational to NAR…

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New Age Tragedy in Sedona: Non-Indians in the Sweat Lodge

…eligion has the corner on the borrowing and incongruity of sacred stories. New Agers who use the sweat lodge are not so much “stealing Indian religion” as they are weaving a new religion out of strands of what they believe to be old religions. Various forms of the sweat ceremony were used by Indians from Canada into southern Mexico. In the south they’re called temescals and resemble a wet sauna or steam room; tribes in the American Southwest have…

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