Search for "best site for airline tickets cheap phone number 1-800-299-7264"

Exclusive: Christian Right Bill Mill, Project Blitz, Hasn’t Gone Away, It’s Just Gotten More Secretive

By Frederick Clarkson

…on (CPCF) scrubbed everything under the rubric of Project Blitz from their site. One Ohio state senator went so far as to lie to a reporter about even knowing about Project Blitz—despite being the state’s co-chair. The Project Blitz playbooks for the state legislative sessions of 2019-2020 (PDF) and 2020-21 (PDF) remained hidden—until now. They’ve added some new bills—including a dramatic attack on the integrity of public libraries—but the Dominio…

A Peek Inside the ‘Onion’ of Scientology

By Kristin Rawls

…gold. They are the public face of the Church, so you want them to have the best possible experience, so you won’t be punitive. Current Scientologists and ex-Scientologists have described Scientology to me as an onion, and celebrities are on the outside of the onion. David Miscavige resides in the center, and the Scientology experienced by members of the Sea Organization, which Miscavige heads, is vastly different than the Scienotology experienced…

Demonized and Demonizing No More.

By Joanna Brooks

…ose things. Thank you! I tried to be careful to not say that my way is the best way forward for anyone—atheist or not. Whenever someone decides they have discovered the best way and that other people should walk the same path, it’s a real turn-off. Atheist polemicists have done a lot to raise the visibility of atheists, but they haven’t made atheism all that attractive for many people and part of the reason why that is—fairly or unfairly—is that t…

RDBook: Power Belongs to God

By Nathan Schneider

…ho usually happen to be brutal dictators. Despite lacking so much as a Web site, the group is an indisputable presence on the Washington scene. It helped to broker the not-necessarily-intuitive alliance between free-market economics and conservative religion that rolled back the New Deal and built a Republican majority. A handful of Congressmen from both parties live in a townhouse that The Family owns. Born-again Watergate crook Chuck Colson is t…

Why Tony Campolo’s LGBTQ Reversal is Evangelicalism’s Tipping Point

By Cathleen Falsani

…f ever increasing pluralism. So when Campolo posted a statement on his web site this week announcing that he had changed his mind about homosexuality and was “urging the church to be more welcoming” to LGBTQ people, it was a big deal. A very big deal. In his statement, Campolo, a sociologist who earned a doctorate from Temple University, said in part: As a social scientist, I have concluded that sexual orientation is almost never a choice and I ha…

The Kids are Religious Right: Punk Rock & Pro-Life

By Justin Philpot

…held in January 2005, George W. Bush addressed pro-life supporters via telephone, saying: “we are working to promote a culture of life.” The president’s language is certainly in line with Rock for Life’s rhetoric, and the group’s willingness to work within the system runs counter to the militant overtones of the Pledge. Interestingly, the Pledge makes no mention of the legal process, despite the reference to abortion as a protected right in “The D…

Fake, Evil, Spiritual, Commodified; What’s the Truth About Popular Yoga?

By Andrea R. Jain

…ry popular culture defies the ability to locate any cultural object at one site or sites. And in the case of postural yoga, we cannot locate it in my chosen sites alone. However, as a practical move, this study uses them as windows into the incalculable sites of the construction, dissemination, and practice of yoga. I had to carefully select from case studies in my effort to demonstrate that the postural practice we most associate with yoga today…

Tinkering with Creation: Intelligent Design 2.0

By Lauri Lebo

…the same time, the Discovery and Expelled’s marketing team unveiled a Web site touting suggested legislation to “protect academic freedom” by encouraging the teaching of alternative theories of controversial subjects, such as evolution. In the scientific community, evolutionary theory is a considered to be the unifying principle of biology. But despite the fact that there is no scientific controversy, lawmakers from several states pushed this sam…

RD News Round-Up—September 29, 2008

By Bill Berkowitz

…r interesting takes on the battle over gay marriage include: “Anti-Gay Nup Site Goes For Youth, But Keeps Old Tactics”, “Lynne Cheney speaks on same-sex marriage equality”, and The Floundering Yes on 8 Campaign: “One Million Missing Lawn Signs Found in China.” ++++++++++ Lagniappe: The Matthew 25 Network “is asking Christian radio stations in the key battleground state of Ohio to air an ad that suggests Barack Obama would bring an end to the econo…

Will a New Dawkins Foundation-Sponsored App Help Atheists Talk to Believers?

By Alana Massey

…th people of faith. At each conversational juncture you have to select the best answer to the hypothetical believer’s challenge or query. This allows non-believers to practice discussions and anticipate responses for when they encounter people of faith. “The goal is to help people become more thoughtful and more reflective about their faith-based beliefs,” explains the app’s creator, Peter Boghossian, on the Atheos website. This gentler approach i…