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Pentecostal Prayer Gangs: New Film Documents Religion in a Brazilian Prison

By Nick Street

…’t have any guards. The premise is that the guard-inmate relationship is always violent, so there’s a code of conduct that is enforced by the inmates themselves. They’re hoping to export this model to Africa and other countries in South America, so they were eager to be able to say that an American sociologist had survived two weeks in one of their prisons as a way of proving that their experimental model works! What was it like? There were three…

More Mixed Signals from Pope Francis; Church of England Wrestles with Rifts; Faith Groups Lobby Pro & Con on Irish Referendum; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…he Hitler Youth.” We mentioned last week that a group of pilgrims from New Ways Ministry was headed to Rome. The group did not get a private meeting with Pope Francis, but was given VIP tickets to the pope’s weekly audience in St. Peter’s square. Religion News Service reports that several bishops, including “San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone – point man or the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ battle against gay marriage – had writt…

Penn Jillette’s Signs You May Already Be an Atheist

By Steve A. Wiggins

…While those who pick it up as believers or agnostics probably won’t come away changed, they will sense that it—like the magic for which Penn Jillette is so well known—has brought them to an unexpected place. Indeed, the book is full of surprises. (If I told you here, they would no longer be surprises, would they?) God, No! is not for everyone. Those who object to coarse language or sexual situations will find themselves uncomfortable at several j…

What’s More Frightening Than Snakes on a Plane?

By Devin Kuhn-Choi

…an ad in a local shop or community center. Last minute emergency? Call the airline right away to see about possibilities for accommodating your needs. Likewise, if one is ardently anti-abortion for moral reasons, rather than only focus on making it illegal, prevent it by limiting unwanted pregnancies: help ensure adequate, healthy sex education and contraception are available to those who need or want them. Work to make affordable, quality prenata…

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Men “Stand Up” for “Religious Freedom”… On a Plane

By Kara Loewentheil

…pes that if you create enough problems the authority in question will cede way (in other words you block the aisles for a 10 hour flight, or you file lawsuits and cost the government time and money defending the law you tried to convince it not to pass, and then once you get an accommodation you sue to be exempted from that as well). The real difference here is that if you don’t want to deal with ultra-Orthodox men interfering in your travel, you…

What the Lost Finale is Really About

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…Is it worth watching? Plenty of writers have chimed in, proclaiming it the best show ever on regular television, that standard television will never be the same, that the ending leaves much to be explained. Jumping the gun, or perhaps the shark, writers from the LA Times, USA Today, NY Times, and many other major outlets have already weighed in, well before the finale sinks in. What then am I offering in the midst of the hullabaloo? Why write befo…

The Religious Implications of Nudity

By Steve A. Wiggins

…ance-enhancing drugs. The sense of freedom and fun (and free food, even if airline food) was exhilarating. The airport has now become a place of horror. Do they have full-body scanners? I wonder as I’m herded into a long, bovine line. Abattoir or boudoir? Why is this bothering me so much? Don’t Touch Me There Even cursory reflection reveals my embodiment issues are buried deep in my religious upbringing. I was a teenage fundamentalist. That remark…

What Will Orthodox ‘Republicanity’ Look Like?

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…Republicanity. Here, I think, is where and why the Democratic Party is not best viewed as religious in the same way. The Democrats simply are not embroiled in a battle over Party orthodoxy in the same way. By contrast, the Republican Party has reached that critical tipping point where the extremity and diversity of viewpoints has made its orthodoxy an issue. What will come of this ideological push-me-pull-you remains to be seen, not just in this e…

Too Hot for Shul: Rabbis Seek Healthy Israel Dialogue After Gaza

By Sarah Posner

…lergy, but by lay leaders and congregants as well. Several rabbis said the best approach was to bring in speakers of varying perspectives, and to encourage civil engagement with the speaker by congregants, a goal several said their communities had accomplished. Younger Jews “scratch their heads,” and ask, “how can it possibly be true that Israel is not at fault in any way?” Sharon Brous, a Conservative rabbi and founder of Ikar, a nondenominationa…

A Muslim Reflects on Christian Theologian (and UCLA Coach) John Wooden

By Amir Hussain

…more importantly for the life lessons. His beloved wife Nellie had passed away in 1985 after 53 years of marriage, and my wife had died suddenly in 1992. Coach gave me a powerful model for dealing with that loss, a reminder that those we loved were always in our lives. On the 21st of each month (Nellie had passed on March 21), Coach would write a letter to Nellie, adding it to the neat pile on her side of the bed. During my development as a teache…