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Why I Boycotted a Conference at Brigham Young University

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…holarship, and campus jobs at the same time. This seemed so counter to the spirit of academic freedom—and to the very issues of religious liberty that the conference was promoting—that in conscience I felt that I had to take a stand. I had looked forward to the conference. The issue was important, the international roster of scholars participating was impressive, and my old friend and colleague, David Little, was to receive an award for his work o…

How a Mormon Spring Break Ritual Came to Include a Whole Lot of “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama”

By Spencer Dew

…y urge the crowd to take the “knowledge” he offers them “in a nonsectarian spirit,” he nonetheless compares his position to that of a Mormon missionary, offering his gospel to those who have not yet accepted the truth. Despite explicit and emphatic reiteration of the metaphysics believed to be at play in the acts and the theology upon which such metaphysics are predicated, the Festival of Colors remains a popular event for Mormons. How such distin…

“The Gift of Gay”: Father Matthew Kelty, Confessor to Thomas Merton, Dies at 96

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…62. In a curious, if poetic, turnabout Father Louis was assigned to be the spiritual director of the new initiates in 1960, so he had a direct hand in Father Matthew’s eventual embrace of the strictures of the Abbey. It’s ironic, this criss-crossed aspect to their monastic lives: Louis coming early, Matthew coming late; Louis leaving early, Matthew staying long. People always leaving just as other folks arrive. What Father Matthew recalls of his e…

The Rise and Fall of an American Gang: Religion as Camouflage?

By Spencer Dew

…can be argued; nevertheless, Islam was without a doubt fundamental to the spirit of the organization.” Perhaps, depending on what “fundamental to the spirit” means. Central to the imagery and rhetoric? Sure. Defining of the practice and worldview? Not so much. Where the Book Falls Short My frustration with this book, however, isn’t that it doesn’t push deeply enough into issue of religion—that would be an unfair expectation; that book has yet to…

Turning Point Efforts to Export Drag Queen Attacks and ‘Take Back Universities’ Marred by Fringe Associations and Farcical Missteps

By Matthew Boedy

…o, and accuses the “woke” of trying to “re-gender” God, is associated with Spirit Embassy, an international megachurch based in London. Doolan, like many associated with the various Turning Point entities, is a Trump supporter. He and the “prophet” of Spirit Assembly visited Trump Tower in 2018 to speak to Trump’s hotel CEO. Three years after he was outed by Vice in 2017 as the man behind “I Am British,” a pro-Trump nationalist campaign, Doolan la…

Free Arabs: Satire, Disobedience, and Disclaimers

By Nabil Echchaibi

…. If there is such a thing as a defining paradigm, or at least an enduring spirit, of the Arab Spring, it has to be the fact that it never was a total revolution or a drastic historical moment with universal political preferences. The Arab Spring was and still is, as Hamid Dabashi has aptly noted in the context of the 2009 Iranian Green Movement, “an open-ended revolt, in which not just the ruling regime but also any other regime that may succeed…

Irish PM Scathing Denunciation of Vatican

By Anthea Butler

…inality at its doorstep. When historians write about this era of the church 100 years from now, the Church will be a shell of what it once was, with liturgies appropriate for the 21st century not the 16th; its relevance diminished, and only the docile and brainwashed sitting in its pews and leading the church’s institutions. The prophetic voice of the Catholic Church has been silenced through the shameful and shameless behavior of leadership who a…

Latest Diatribe on Francis and Latin Mass in the Times Launders the History — and Troubling Elements — of the ‘Tradition’

By Matthew Gabriele

…ut the biggest claim Dougherty makes in his piece, of course, is about the spirit of the ecumenical council—that it created a “new faith.” It’s an old song within the Church. If a constant refrain within Catholicism is ecclesia semper reformanda (“the church is always being reformed”), then there’s always someone else complaining that those reforms have perverted the “true” nature of Christianity. Dougherty makes it clear, and takes it further, wh…

Squaring Tahrir Square

By H.A. Hellyer

…k is instinctive. It is a reflection of the indomitable power of the human spirit—and in doing what they have done in the Square, far beyond the political achievement of toppling a dictator, maybe Egyptians will inspire the world to revitalise civil society far beyond its borders. The Square provides lessons, I think, not just for the people of Egypt, but for the people of the world, who all exist in societies that are plural in some way or anothe…

What’s a Faith-Healing Congregation to Do When Measles Hits?

By Rob Shryock

…God praise for that. When George Pearsons says that they “commanded” the “spirit of measles” to leave, he’s not being figurative. Pearsons believes that you can be cured of almost any ailment by a ritual recitation of God’s word. He claimed in Sunday’s sermon that people could, “take authority over their bodies” by using “words of dominion,” saying that, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.” In context, Pearsons’s sermon comes off as…