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Aliens Are Fattening Us Up For the Rapture

By Mark Hulsether

…s “subtly advancing us toward the predicted one-world government.” Perhaps more diligent channel-surfers than I can shed more light on this subject and explain that I am slow in noticing this evangelical theme—but since I teach about end-times discourse I try to pay at least passing attention to evolving trends, and this twist seems mildly noteworthy because I have seldom heard it. Although I spoke of Lindsey’s “short answer,” I hasten to add that…

The US Religious Right and the LGBT Crisis In Uganda

By Sarah Posner

…ate to prosecute, imprison, and even put to death anyone the state deems homosexual, “to date we have more non-state violence directed at gay people.” That violence is both promoted by the government—one parliamentarian has said if he had a lesbian daughter, he would hang her—and carried out by private citizens with government complicity. If a lesbian victim of the common “corrective rape” were to go to the police station to report it, Kaggwa said…

Tea Party 2.0, Ready For Post-Election Launch

By Julie Ingersoll

…nd gubernatorial races,” they are now (apparently as I write this) surveying voters to learn “who went to the polls and why.” Instructive for those of us who follow the influence of the religious right on the tea party movement (arguing that it’s about a lot more than taxes), the press release promoting the conference and its polling data indicated that the poll’s questions were designed to “ascertain voter attitudes on major issues and the politi…

If You Were Faced With Him

By Amina Wadud

…I don’t think God would mind a cheat sheet. Still I hope at the moment that I really, really think of one question that I would never ask from any mortal soul. More than that, I hope I understand what the answer is….

Obama to Cave on Bush Tax Cuts: Letter to the Washingtonians, Chapter 1

By Daniel Schultz

…in a poor land. In 2002 and 2003, the grim infection of another war became more and more certain. I did not support this war. It was wrong, and I said so from my pulpit. I paid the price: enraged members of the congregation were certain that I had dishonored the troops, that President Bush was the hand appointed by God to lead the nation to safety, that no Christian could oppose this war to protect our civilization. Days after the first troops pou…

Dear Scientists: Please Stop Bashing Free Will!

By John Horgan

…ves room for free will.” He adds, “Our belief in free will arises from our moment-to-moment ignorance of specific prior causes.” Researchers have certainly raised intriguing questions about the link between our choices and actions. Harris cites experiments by the physiologist Benjamin Libet, in which subjects pushed a button whenever they chose while noting the time of their decision as displayed on a clock. The subjects took 0.2 seconds on averag…

Why I Won’t Leave the Mormon Church Alone

By Holly Welker

…you leave it alone?” It’s a common conversation between former or inactive Mormons and those who are still faithful. “People can leave the Mormon church, but they can’t leave it alone” is an adage I heard as a child. It supposedly proves that the Mormon church is true and that those who leave it are broken in some fundamental way—though the exact means by which this is proven is never clearly established. This at least is true: although I stopped…

Gen X, Gadgets, and God

By Elizabeth Drescher

…roups, and Twitter feeds for the Bible, the Qur’an, the Torah, the Book of Mormon, the Roman Catholic Missal, the Book of Common Prayer, and so on. No ordained clergy, no religious institution, no religious scholar required. Here we return to Schwadel’s research on the durability of religious affiliation among Gen-Xers and the Pew findings on the religious interests of Millennials. Americans, it seems, are not losing religion, but rebuilding it. F…

Ricky Gervais: Why I’m an Atheist

By Lauri Lebo

…believe in God. The Christian one that is. I loved Jesus. He was my hero. More than pop stars. More than footballers. More than God. God was by definition omnipotent and perfect. Jesus was a man. He had to work at it. He had temptation but defeated sin. He had integrity and courage. But He was my hero because He was kind. And He was kind to everyone. He didn’t bow to peer pressure or tyranny or cruelty. He didn’t care who you were. He loved you….

Pope Invites his Flock to Join Facebook: Is the Digital Reformation Here?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ding This new connectedness, as I’ve suggested here previously, is perhaps more premodern than postmodern in its ethos, a point made far more concretely by the announcement that San Francisco start-up Rethink Books will be launching software with which publishers can produce books as iPad apps that allow for collaborative, social reading. Like so many ancient and medieval religious sages, readers will have the opportunity to share commentary, deba…