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Wesolowski Sexual Abuse Case a New Approach or Same Old Same Old?

By Mary E. Hunt

…along. It rings suspiciously hollow. A certain slime factor hovers over this case—evil so deep and enduring that few people want to talk about it. The sheer number of victims and their willingness to come forward despite whatever stigma they might endure give this case special status. The colonialism alone is repulsive; the legal ramifications boggle the mind; and the religious implications for a very Catholic country are staggering. If this is h…

The Family Research Council’s Mistaken Identity

By Sarah Posner

…variety of groups, such as survivalists, militias, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, Christian Identity churches, the AN and skinheads.” The report called Christian Identity “the most unifying theology for a number of these diverse groups and one widely adhered to by white supremacists. It is a belief system that provides its members with a religious basis for racism and an ideology that condones violence against non-Aryans.” If I were to do some hair…

Jonestown at 40: The Real Conspiracy Is More Disturbing Than the Theories

By Rebecca Moore

…CIA agent who killed everyone to prevent his secret from coming out. Comedian Dick Gregory claimed that forces from the CIA and the FBI used the Jonestown bodies to smuggle heroin into the United States. I catalogued these and other theories about motive in a 2002 article. Most of these explanations have been debunked. Matthew Thomas Farrell painstakingly assessed the mind-control account offered by John Judge, who wrote what has become the ur-te…

The Plot to Turn the Synod into a “Plot”

By Patricia Miller

…teachings on the family can be made more relevant for Catholics, but a Machiavellian plot by Pope Francis and his allies to change church doctrine. As evidence, as per Douthat, they offer the fact that Francis has changed the synod procedures to allow for actual discussion about issues like the pastoral treatment of divorced and remarried Catholics or gay Catholics: The documents guiding the synod have been written with that in mind. The pope has…

Satanic or Silly: Does Yale Press Censorship of Cartoons Insult Muslims?

By Daniel Martin Varisco

…nister of Nigeria that publishing the images would cause riots from Indonesia to Nigeria; a repeat of the previous protests that led to a boycott of Danish products, attacks on Danish embassies, and a number of deaths. Last month in the New York Times, however, Reza Aslan countered that the controversy over the cartoons has died out and that in any case, there never was any violence over them in the United States. I agree with Aslan that the novel…

As Gaza Burns, Jews Disagree, Protest & Pray

By Sam Kestenbaum

…he northwest side of the city, overlooking Beit Hanoun and further south, Gaza City with its 500,000 Palestinian residents. The buildings look small from here and he can’t make out any movements. At the center of world news, just a mile away, but still obscured. He watches as rockets are launched from building-tops in Gaza, leaving long wispy streams as they arch into the air. Far more dramatic is when Israel strikes: the missiles make huge explos…

Dutch Treat: Betsy DeVos and the Christian Schools Movement

By Peter Laarman

…r little hamlet was able to launch an elementary school—the Oostburg Christian School—in 1947. A Christian high school serving all of Sheboygan County came along 1969. While my parents deplored the implied repudiation of public education, it was hard for anyone not to admire the grit and determination of people with no more money than the rest of us—farmers and small business owners—who were willing to tax themselves to support these religious sch…

New Poll Reveals Jews May Be Open to Change in Israel Policy

By Benjamin Weiner

…tolerate pressure being exerted on both sides. *69% were in favor of negotiations with a Palestinian unity government that included Hamas, and 76% percent expressed some degree of support for the “two-state solution” as outlined in the 2000 Camp David and Taba talks. (This was the agreement, often said to have been rejected by Arafat, but which actually fell apart due to a complex series of failures on both sides). The 69% of respondents (the num…

What’s in a Name? Religious Nones and the American Religious Landscape

By Richard Flory

…y say, we’re down to people who really believe, instead of “cultural Christians” who don’t adhere to Christian beliefs. Meanwhile, many atheists claim that the entire category is populated by fellow atheists who are somehow reluctant or afraid to publicly proclaim their disbelief. These reactions to the increase in the number of people classified as “religious Nones” represent an assumption based on a market approach of religion and an understandi…

Pope’s US Visit Provokes Intense Attention; New Vatican Book on Man-Woman Complementarity & New Int’l Report on Christian Role Models for LGBT Equality; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ment call for legislative marriage vote, not plebescite The Western Australia parliament passed a motion this week “calling on the federal government to abandon plans for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage and instead settle the issue with a conscience vote in the Federal Parliament,” reports Andrew O’Connor at the Australian Broadcasting Commission. During the debate, Member of Parliament Peter Abetz, in a speech arguing against marriage equality,…