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Battlestar Galactica and the Future of American Religion

By Nick Street

…netic influence on viewers, pulling them together over water-coolers or in online chat-rooms and sparking conversations about ontology or morality among people who might otherwise feel no urge to connect. And anyone who doubts that morals and the meaning of life are the stock in trade on Battlestar might consider the lineaments of “A Measure of Salvation,” an episode that aired in November 2006. The story: A beacon left behind 3,000 years ago by h…

Satanic or Silly: Does Yale Press Censorship of Cartoons Insult Muslims?

By Daniel Martin Varisco

…available online anywhere in the world through a simple Google search, and sites like Mohammed Image Archive make far more offensive images than the dozen Danish cartoons readily available. The cautious reaction by Yale University Press is understandable, but I find the rationale troubling, as it assumes that Muslims extremists await any new pretext to spur violence and that “moderate” Muslims are at their mercy. Given the ongoing United States mi…

Leper Messiah: A Jesus Freak’s Search for the Meaning of Bowie—A Critical Novella

By Mark Dery

…, Maenads of a secular mystery cult. Endnotes: 1Fanatic. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fanatic. 2Quoted in Fred and Judy Vermorel, Starlust (London: Comet Books, 1985), pps. 182-183, archived on the “Retirement Gig” page of The Ziggy Stardust Companion, http://www.5years.com/Retire.htm. 3Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Tradi…

Controversial LDS Conference Talk Edited for Publication

By Joanna Brooks

The LDS Church has now released online text and audio editions of talks delivered at the Church’s General Conference last weekend, including a talk delivered by Elder Boyd K. Packer on homosexuality that has been the subject of public controversy among Mormons and the general public. The online published text of Elder Packer’s talk has been edited from the version delivered live on Sunday morning. (A full transcript showing edits is available her…

Sex and the Ummah

By Amina Wadud

This was the title of a really good commentary for an online Islamic newsletter for quite some time. So, I’m not making it up on my own. This week has brought just a tad too many funny (or sad or sick) stories along these lines not to give it a shot myself. One of them was a report that Egypt was second for online porn inquiries. I didn’t read all the details—like second to which country? Actually, I thought it would have been second to Pakistan,…

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Humans

By Amina Wadud

…ards, as if they don’t have that information. If you think I could just go online with the name of the hotel—well, I tried that. Instead I get directed to this tour company and a few others, because clearly this is part of their package. I mean, I could be staying at the Makkah Hilton, you know. Fortunately, I am not, because the online search shows hotels that are so large, I think I would just go out of my mind for some peace. This hotel is only…

Facebook Doesn’t Kill Churches, Churches Kill Churches

By Elizabeth Drescher

…le theological witticisms hither and yon. And, as a quick glance at her website or Facebook page illustrates, she offers a ministry that facilitates the kinds of social engagement that are a significant part of contemporary spiritual practice, especially among younger adults. The people she encounters in local settings seem more than happy to continue the conversation on her Facebook page, often inviting their friends (which is how I came to be th…

Too Hot for Shul: Rabbis Seek Healthy Israel Dialogue After Gaza

By Sarah Posner

…blic.” A 2013 report by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, based on an online survey of over 500 mostly Reform and Conservative rabbis, found that nearly half “hold views on Israel that they won’t share publicly, many for fear of endangering their reputation or their careers.” The survey found that 43% of rabbis who identified as dovish reported feeling “very fearful” of expressing their true views on Israel, compared to just 29% of moderates…

Why The Book of Mormon (the Musical) is Awesomely Lame

By Jared Farmer

…hat word. The screenwriters could have learned this in about one minute of online research, or a single conversation with a church member. Yes, Mormons speak of “outer darkness”—the hell-place reserved for Satan and the “sons of perdition” who defected from God during the War in Heaven. But for all the mortals who have ever sinned on Earth, there is no fire, no brimstone—only a temporary “spiritual prison” for the unrepentant. And even those sinne…

A Seminary for Nonbelievers: Is A. C. Grayling Creating His Own Religion?

By Jessica Weisberg

…f smoke bombs during his reading at a London bookstore; there were several online petitions circling through the web. The fact that the original faculty list included only one woman did not help the image of elitism and exclusion. Critics also object to Grayling’s school on religious grounds. Giles Fraser, a philosophy professor at Oxford, complained on Twitter that the New College of the Humanities was a “new atheist school.” The Church Mouse, a…