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Billy Graham Is Probably Not the Author of His Own “Final Chapter”

By Elesha Coffman

…to take the world with him into this diabolical place. Don’t think for one minute that Hell will be the “hottest” happy hour of all. Those who find themselves there will remember the hour of decision that determined their fate; they will face the inferno of God’s wrath that will last not for an hour but for all the never-ending hours of forever. Graham alluded to God’s wrath back in 1983, but he foregrounded God’s “great love, mercy, and grace.” T…

Conservative Bishops Headed For Synod Victory?; Indonesian Sharia Official Says Gay Caning Law Meant To ‘Safeguard Human Dignity’; Slovenian Court OK’s Referendum on Marriage Equality Law; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…elt like a deep betrayal when local officials banned the march at the last minute and police turned tear gas, plastic bullets, and water cannons on participants. (Turkish LGBT activists are not sure why the event was shut down after years without incident, but it fell during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and came in the wake of a defeat at the ballot box for the party of Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.) “I thought we were safe…

Feminist Critics of Wearing Hijab in Solidarity Fall Into Same Old Traps

By Mariam Durrani

…im community has been stuck over the last few days. Can we just stop for a minute? While I can agree with Nomani and Arafa’s critique of Wahhabi, Saudi-funded Islamist groups that support more conservative and often sexist ideologies and policies across the Muslim world, I’m hesitant to rope the hijab into this socio-political and economic constellation of issues. The arc of their argument goes something like this: non-Muslim Americans should not…

How to Die in America: A Conversation with Ann Neumann

By Ellie Faustino

…are able to restart my lungs, but I was without oxygen for more than four minutes. At the hospital, a few days after I’m admitted, I’m given a feeding tube (all of which would happen at any hospital in the country). After a few weeks, let’s say I’m diagnosed as being in a [Persistent Vegetative State]. My brain stem still has some functionality, I can maybe open my eyes, I move, I sleep, and I open my mouth. But significant parts of my brain are…

Is Religion Wrecking Our Air?

By Jay Wexler

…re important natural resource could there be than the air we breathe every minute of every day? And yet, air pollution remains rampant throughout the world. The World Health Organization has estimated that air pollution causes seven million deaths per year from problems such as heart disease, respiratory ailments, and cancer. Major sources of air pollution include mobile sources like cars and trucks and stationary sources like factories and power…

How a Mormon Spring Break Ritual Came to Include a Whole Lot of “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama”

By Spencer Dew

…playing the flute: “As drops of ocean water have the ocean’s qualities in minute degree, our forms and personalities are infinitesimal samples of the infinite Supreme Person.” Krishna, moreover, is understood as present in the mantras the crowd is encouraged to chant, The chanting and singing—kirtan, the performance of musical worship within ISKCON—is “what drives us” to hold the Festival in Spanish Fork and around the country, said founder Kirta…

Bernie’s Roman Holiday

By Daniel Schultz

…all, and then delivered not much in the way of a speech. I’m serious. Ten minutes is not long to speak on a complex subject, and Sanders wasted almost a quarter of his speech thanking his hosts, name-checking popes, and giving an extensive quote from Centesimus Annus that he frankly would have been better off summarizing. The rest of it is Sanders’ usual stump speech, barely adapted to rather obviously bait Pope Francis into giving his blessing….

Intolerance in Indonesia Extends to Religious Minorities; Lutheran Church in Norway OK’s Same-Sex Marriage, But Not in Finland; Catholic Church Warns Australian CEOs to Back Off Marriage Equality Support; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…— which says it promotes freedom of love and gender equality — at the last minute, after Islamists threatened to beat up participants… Gays and lesbians suffer discrimination and worse in Bangladesh where homosexuality is a crime punishable by a maximum life term, although prosecutions are rare. However, the Roopbaan rally, which was denied permission late on Wednesday, had been allowed to go ahead in the previous two years… Police have stepped up…

What’s Behind the “Common Sense” Rhetoric of Bathroom Bill?

By Stephanie Russell-Kraft

…h certificate, which is determined by your plumbing. That’s objective. The minute you base law on subjectivity, it’s like saying, you know what, I think a green light means stop and a red light means go.” Similar logical twists took place earlier this month when participants in a South Carolina county’s school board meeting erupted in a spontaneous chorus of “Jesus Loves Me” in a response to one woman’s attempt to defend trans students’ rights to…

Of Birds and Buddhists: Wildlife Rehab, NYC Style

By Jay Wexler

…hem after learning that scores of local Buddhists had been releasing large numbers of turtles into the park’s waters, where they are ill-suited to live. Buddhists believe that releasing injured or threatened animals can bring good karma to animal and releaser alike, but practiced without care and in large numbers, these releases can cause great damage. Things are even worse overseas, in places like Taiwan, where “mercy release” has become big busi…