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The Myth of the ‘Lone Wolf’ Shooter Blinds Us to the Reality of White Supremacy

By Ivan Strenski

…ists. But how can we even be sure the individual domestic terrorists in El Paso or Pittsburgh represent a “pack”? And how can we act while protecting our First Amendment right to free speech? Leaving aside spectacles of wolf-pack frenzy like Charlottesville’s torchlight parade, we don’t routinely see these wolf packs rallying at the local VFW hall. Yet, we know these shooters run with a “pack” of their own kind. We know who gives them aid and comf…

What We Saw in the Eyes of Koko the Talking Gorilla (1971-2018)

By Ed Simon

…oko when I actually got to meet Jane Goodall at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh. Gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, monkeys—they circumnavigate my normal critical faculties, my academic inclination to intellectualize any passion. If a hypothesis can be proffered for my passion it’s in simian uncanniness, the intuition that being, at once, so much like us and so foreign, they offer a glance into some kind of primal otherness, some prelapsaria…

Pride Month & Prejudice; ‘Worrisome Time’ For LGBT People; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…, the assembly of Catholic bishops in Poland asked Polish Catholics not to participate in the parade, claiming that advocating for LGBTQ issues was “falsifying the church’s unchangeable teaching.” AP reports that “several far-right nationalists tried to block the parade but were removed by police.” Ireland: Gay son of immigrant father set to become fiscally conservative prime minister Leo Varadkar is set to become Ireland’s youngest and first open…

Saving Teens from Obama: When Bible Study Goes Wrong

By Vyckie Garrison

…vantaged, mostly Hispanic kids between the ages of 10 and 19—to see such a partisan film as part of their Bible study discussion on “justice.” When Chassé had first seen it, she had returned home from Teen Night with a barrage of accusations against President Obama, the candidate she had been planning to vote for this November. “Is it true that Obama’s trying to get rid of all of America’s nuclear weapons so that we are defenseless against Islamic…

Burning Man: Religious Event or Sheer Hedonism?

By Lee Gilmore

…lly grew into an internationally renowned event that draws close to 50,000 participants annually. For one week in late August and early September, an elaborate civic infrastructure called “Black Rock City” is constructed, featuring a carefully laid out grid of streets in which participants set up hundreds of different “theme camps.” Organizers provide some basic services (camp placement, public information, and porta-potties being just a few), bu…

An American Muslim Abroad, Or, Things I Saw in Dubai

By Haroon Moghul

…hitecture and owes far less to traditionally Arab-Islamic architecture. Compare to the Taj Mahal, and Badshahi and Jama’ Mosques of South Asia (India and Pakistan.) Another argument for Shah Rukh Khan as Caliph. ⬆ The world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (Khalifa Tower), anchors the misleadingly-named ‘Old Town’ of Dubai, which is a new development made to look like a traditional Arab neighborhood. That is next to the world’s largest m…

Beware of Yoga, Taking the Jesus Out of AA, Atheist Billboard Wars—The Sequel

By Michael J. Altman

…logized for allowing students on a field trip to a local Islamic center to participate in midday prayers. The city of King, North Carolina has decided to remove a Christian flag from a public Veterans Memorial. The ACLU of New Jersey is suing the city of Point Pleasant Beach over the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at city council meetings. Oh, and by the way, Hitler invented the phrase “separation of church and state.” At least, that’s what Tea P…

Religious Affiliation, ‘Mankind’: India’s Anti-Corruption Activist Leads Second Freedom Struggle

By April L. Bogle

…ountry’s infrastructure: schools, universities, roads, and bridges. The Lokpal Bill was set to come up for parliamentary vote, but ministers and reformers had drafted separate versions. The “mischievous minister” we were watching on the laptop was being questioned about the status of a joint bill. It really felt like I’d joined Bedi at a tennis match. Rapt in the competition, she swung hard at the minister’s most egregious statements. “Hear that?”…

Penn Jillette’s Signs You May Already Be an Atheist

By Steve A. Wiggins

…hick enough to make a Pharisee proud: “Be there for your family. Love your parents, your partner, and your children. (Love is deeper than honor, and parents matter, but so do spouses and children.)” In what may raise frustration for religious critics, his ideas here come very close to the traditional words of Jesus. An academic critic might say this book is not what it seems; it is not just another media figure giving us reasons to hang our pious…

The Religious Implications of Nudity

By Steve A. Wiggins

…durable clothing? He personally slew the animals to cover those bits that Paul called “our uncomely parts.” No one was to see them—and that included the owner—unless absolutely necessary. Showing your privates to a stranger was a sin. Now conservative Christian political interests have modified their position: anonymous government employees are allowed to look, to violate your embodiment theology. As the man’s latex-gloved hands reach for my crot…