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Predicting the Future of Religion: A Thought Experiment

By Ed Simon

…olars have often patronizingly collapsed the distinctions between African, Indian, Asian, and Pacific “indigenous beliefs.” How will westerners react when finally forced to confront these religious systems on their own terms? Stephen Prothero has pointed out that the traditional African religion of Yoruba is one of the world’s largest faiths and in his brilliant new book One Nation under Gods Peter Manseau has shown how the crucial role African re…

It’s Not Yogaphobia, It’s Theology

By Kyle Garton-Gundling

…r). To take a somewhat parallel case, Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has promoted an appreciation for Jesus, but not for the Christian theology writ large. After all, a Buddhist would rightly be critical of a system that posits a belief in an essential soul. But where some Catholic voices (and Protestant ones as well) go out of their way to disparage yoga, Thich Nhat Hanh never uses incendiary rhetoric to tell his audience not to become Christia…

LGBTs in Philippines Reflect on Papal Visit; Francis Meets Trans Man Shunned by Parish; French Group Turns ‘Bar of Sodom’ into ‘Pub of Mercy’; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ubject to violence and discrimination in many parts of the world. In 2013, India re-criminalised homosexuality while Nigeria, Uganda, and Gambia have all passed laws that make homosexuality a crime punishable with life imprisonment. In seven countries, homosexuality is punishable by death, the statement said. Philippines: LGBT rights advocates reflect on papal visit We reported last week on the visit by Pope Francis to the Philippines. This week G…

Global LGBT Recap: Culture War Claims More Victims

By Peter Montgomery

…cussion of the church’s teaching and their reasons for departing from it.” India: Out LGBT people vulnerable under recriminalization BuzzFeed’s Lester Feder reports this week on the violent consequences of the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to recriminalize homosexuality. An anti-gay police raid and beatings that happened before the decision were being investigated by activists as lawless violence by police; now the victims of the raid wait to be…

Pope Decries ‘Ideological Colonization’ of Family; Islamic State Executes Gays and Others; Gay Couple Gets Long-Delayed Wedding in Mexico; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…e crucifixion of 17 young men in 48 hour period. In addition, the Times of India reported on Tuesday that the United Nations was warning about a new wave of violence targeting “educated women.” Ireland: Marriage Referendum Language Set; Health Minister Comes Out The language of May’s marriage equality referendum was announced this week: It proposes to add to the Constitution a declaration that “marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by…

What’s Wrong With the Virgin Mary Depicted as a Barbie Doll?

By Joseph Laycock

…ocation and bad taste?” Commenting on the Barbie dressed as Kali, Times of India noted a long pattern of the West appropriating Hinduism for commercial purposes. Rajan Zed, a Hindu cleric and interfaith leader remarked, “Barbie-fication of Kali is simply improper, wrong and out of place.” The most outraged group appears to be devotees of Argentinian folk saint Difunta Correa (the deceased Correa), who’s also “Barbie-fied.” According to legend, Cor…

Cyclops Baby of the Apocalypse? Another Day in ISIS Fundamentalism

By Joseph Laycock

…ld born in 2008 in Bolivia and another child that died in 2006 in Chennai, India. As for the Dajjal, hadith describe him as being blind in his right eye—not a cyclops. Of course this rumor is no more absurd than the American obsession with the antichrist, which has equated Proctor & Gamble, Ronald Reagan, and even Monster energy drinks with the Beast described in Revelation. Prior to reports of the birth of the false prophet, there were unconfirme…

It’s Theology, Not Baseball: Misunderstanding Iraq’s Sectarian Conflicts

By Amyn B. Sajoo

…bal behemoth.” The 2003 intervention may have been the “original sin.” But Freedland like Obama is happy to lay the blame squarely on Iraqi and Syrian politicians whose ongoing sins are not having enough Sunnis in government. By this logic, the proper antidote to sectarian conflict is to have the warring sects represented by their own members. Never mind any concept of nationhood, citizenship, national institutions, or a shared historical and cons…

Raelian Swastika Campaign Calculated to Stoke Controversy

By Joseph Laycock

…ka-phobia” on a trip to Kochi, India, once home to a sizable population of Indian Jews, a part of which is still known as “Jew Town.” I overheard an American tourist exclaim with alarm, “I was in Jew Town, and there were swastikas everywhere!” When her friend tried to explain that in Kochi the swastika is a symbol of Hinduism and not Nazism, she responded, “I know, but still!” Because the swastika inspires emotions that can overpower our logic, th…

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

By Matt Hamilton

…on’t know how not to do this. Yet here I was at the Ananda Ashram in rural India, expecting (and craving) swift condemnation by the monks and nuns at the sight of an iPhone. I was on a university-sponsored trip to the subcontinent with other journalists, all of us covering politics and religion. The reporting would come later, however. First came three days in an ashram, and I hoped for a 72-hour hiatus from the compulsion to connect. But this ash…