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Atheist Rock Fest, Buddhist Geeks, Megachurch For Sale, Church Bans Fried Chicken

By Michael J. Altman

…nto it. From the file of new studies: people become more religious during hard times and are happier during periods of difficulty, restrictions on religious belief and practice are on the rise globally, and the more educated may become more religious. “Hello, Buddhist geeks!” In the Phillipines, officials at a state-run cultural center decided that Christian symbols and phallic objects don’t mix and shut down a controversial art exhibit. A Mississ…

Mitt Romney’s Prosperity Gospel

By Peter Laarman

…ice people. And our god is that God: the one who makes water flow from the rock (Numbers 20:11); who surprises us all the time by blessing us in the least likely circumstances. Mr. President: You need to understand this. You need to work with this, but very, very carefully. Because, like it or not, the endgame in this election is going to be about which candidate does religion better, I fervently wish that Mr. Obama would say a bit more about the …

Francis Visits the Church that John Paul Broke

By Patricia Miller

…s and 350,000 Catholic marriages. The controversy over Humanae Vitae ten years earlier had largely subsided; most Catholics used birth control and most priests ignored the issue. The Catholic Church had tried valiantly over the previous decade to make abortion a major political issue for Catholics as it pressed the issue of a constitutional ban, but with little success. Even the head of the church’s own National Committee for a Human Life Amendmen…

“Saints Are Only Human”: Leaving the Church, But Heeding this Pope’s Lessons

By Elizabeth Colmant Estes

…with slogans about immigration reform. On line I heard that parishes with large numbers of undocumented immigrants had received many tickets. No outside food or water, statues, gifts or selfie sticks were permitted. Despite 10,000 folding chairs, most of us would have no choice but to stand. Once in my appointed place behind the last row of seats, I found myself in a community of fellow pilgrims, lottery winners from local parishes, nearby college…

Wolves Repelled by Christian Rock, Bibles for Porn, Fox Rejects Super Bowl Ad

By Michael J. Altman

…from colonial New Orleans. If you’d like an outdoor funeral pyre, they are available in a small town in Colorado. Finally, in Ohio, there are reports of a weeping statue of the Virgin Mary….

We Went Through Amoris Laetitia Section by Section So You Wouldn’t Have To

By Anthony Adams

…e everything by applying general rules or deriving undue conclusions from particular theological considerations. In the next section, the pope reminds us that not everything needs to be resolved by the Magisterium, and that interpretations of authority can vary. He also says this about diversity: Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs. In Section 6, Francis…

In the Aftermath of the “Himalayan Tsunami”

By Luke Whitmore

…innocent and simple”), or simply “O god of gods, destroyer, destroyer” (“har har mahadev”), an acknowledgement of human limits in the face of such power and tragedy. Connecting these events to Shiva is also a way of thinking about human agency and human responsibility. As Chitra Padmanabhan notes in her editorial in The Hindu, the story of how the goddess Ganga descends honors the humility of her human supplicant, the king Bhagiratha, a humility…

Put Your Money Where Your Mind Is: A For-Profit Meditation Studio Opens in New York

By Michael Schulson

…nsumer culture. An unlikely prosperity gospel In the past five weeks, the Harvard Business Review has run six separate articles online about the benefits of mindfulness. If anything, HBR is behind the times. Mindfulness practices have become common in the business world where they’re thought to improve performance. Advocates have pushed this kind of mental training for schools and prisons as well. They frame mindfulness in terms of self-improvemen…

Unbuckling the Bible Belt: “Nashville” and the Nones

By Carrie Allen Tipton

…the show venerates is a non-pop, acoustic, edgy, alt-country ethos that shares little DNA with mainstream contemporary country. As John Jurgensen accurately noted in the Wall Street Journal, “‘Nashville’ is dominated by intimate, acoustic numbers that would fall into the category of ‘Americana.’” No great shock this, since T. Bone Burnett was the program’s music producer in the first season, followed in Season 2 by Buddy Miller, a co-producer fro…

Busy Days For ‘eBay of Prophecy’

By Bill Berkowitz

…s, the public relations outfit that managed the Yes on 8 campaign, was in large part responsible for “bombard[ing the public] with false advertising, including ads that purported that if Prop. 8 failed, schoolchildren would be forced to learn about gay marriage, kindergartners would be taught sex ed and churches would lose their right to free speech.” In his zeal to earn his wage and stirring up a hornet’s nest of anti-gay sentiment, Schubert appa…