Religion Dispatches
…y up to $50,000 a year. Unlike Hovind, Hyman is giving away his system for free. All you have to do is sit through an hour-long video, during which Hyman explains how “to unlock vast amounts of wealth safely and ethically.” Fancy explanations are provided, but it’s actually rather simple. Hyman advises investors to research the company before buying a stock: “Is the business run well? Are customers happy and sales increasing?” Which is actually go…
Read More
…rview, Gobrail spoke out and supported the European cartoonists who drew caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed wearing a bomb as a turban. He said at the time that freedom of expression “should be upheld no matter what.” These contradictions have left human rights groups flustered. “They can’t have it both ways,” begins Hany Zaki, an Egyptian pharmacist who said he read the book and sees it much differently than those who have been outraged. “This is…
Read More…powers of autonomy. A draft bylaw sent to AFP on Saturday outlaws anal sex between men and “the rubbing of body parts between women for stimulation”, and for the first time applies Islamic laws and punishments to non-Muslims. The bylaw also punishes adultery with 100 lashes of the cane. The bylaw reinforces previous sharia legislation that bans alcohol consumption, gambling, fraternising between unmarried men and women, and physical displays of af…
Read More
…mantle their grip on defining the terms of liberation in the Arab context. Free Arabs deploys its satirical video series, “The Fatwa Show,” precisely for this purpose. Here, two characters play a misguided imam and his silently obedient disciple. The target of the satire? The vacuous logic of fatwas, or legal pronouncements. Episode titles include: “Contact Lenses: Forbidden!” and the inscrutable, “About Using Carrots.” The skits are based on rea…
Read More
…d their teaching about sin and damnation in favor of “talking marriage and freedom.” Writing that clerical opponents of marriage equality share a theological position—“no sex ever for gays and lesbians”—he quips about their marriage campaign messaging, “it’s the hate that dare not speak its name.” It’s a strategy that makes sense given polls that show most Christians support marriage equality, he writes. But that doesn’t mean church leaders haven’…
Read More
…e of social and community values in pictures.” For the next 38 years, that code shaped Hollywood’s output. The Production Code insisted that movies were primarily “to be regarded as entertainment” that would “improve the race.” As such, movies should avoid explicit images that would be upsetting or play to “the lower and base element.” Those images included graphic violence, “excessive passion,” “white-slavery,” “scenes of actual child birth,” and…
Read More
…p the viewer understand the role and function of identity and belief on Caprica. Even better, the virtual world is more than just Club V, but a series of places we can go to. I have to say what intrigued me this week was cubits, how money was used as a religious piece in the Tauron “funeral” ritual, as a way of passage, to the cubits that were currency in the virtual world, to the money for Greystone enterprises, the subtext of money this week poi…
Read More
…convincing was this product launch, complete with Facebook ad campaign and promotional website including a promo video that went viral, that a number of customers were disappointed and angry to find out that it was a fake. Part of the confusion seems to have been that the launch occurred on March 28, not the customary April 1. But just as important was consumer demand. Enough people were convinced by the slick product rollout that they actually wa…
Read More…rnment claims that the legislation will strengthen the NGOs’ work and help better promote the services they offer. It would do so by creating NGO monitoring offices at the district, regional, and national levels. That framework would also ensure that all rules and regulations set up by the bill are enforced…. Critics rebuke the bill as a rejection of the work that NGOs do in Uganda—to better the livelihood of its people, especially the underprivil…
Read More…at the enforcement of the BYU Honor Code has disproportionately targeted African-American male athletes. Critics of Smith’s findings have contested the quality of his statistical data and pointed out that the most egregious “bait and switch” recruitment of non-LDS athletes of color—including procurement of women and alcohol to entice recruits—took place under former coach Gary Crowton, not current coach Bronco Mendenhall. (Smith’s Deadspin article…
Read More