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Are You There God? It’s Us, Googling

By Michael Schulson

…does God allow suffering?” the first hit was a sponsored result for the website of David Jeremiah, a conservative evangelical preacher in California. Do these websites actually shape people’s responses to deep theological questions? Can search results and search engine optimization influence the beliefs of an individual confronting a difficult question? It’s hard to tell. But as people go online for answers to religious questions, fundamentalist a…

Election Day: Hope, Heartbreak, Naiveté, and Studs Terkel

By The Editors

…loud? Lucia Hulsether: What Are You Doing Right Now? The social networking site Facebook enables its members (the vast majority of whom are students) to post a “status” describing what they are doing and thinking at any given point. This morning I logged on to my computer, and in the last fifteen hours over 400 of my friends had updated their statuses—and literally all of them addressed the election. Ninety-five percent of their statements were pr…

On the Ethics of the Tibetan Self-Immolations

By José Cabezón

…thers is not only permissible but actually necessary. When all the prerequisites for engaging in such an act are met, this is regarded as an act of great moral courage. Drawing from earlier scriptures, the fourth-century Indian Buddhist master Asaṅga speaks of a threefold classification of “giving” that includes giving material goods, spiritual counsel, and life. Of these three, Asaṅga considers offering up one’s life to be the highest form of giv…

Beck Plus God Does Not Equal X

By Anthea Butler

…churning religious melee can’t end well. Beck has just started another Web site “The Blaze,” where you can get news that Beck says “will pursue truth.” Beck would probably just accuse me of being a communist, but about what he is selling on Fox and at “The Blaze,” Vladimir Lenin is thought to have said it best: “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” Let’s hope that Beck’s lies about history, theology, and America won’t be told enough to beco…

Muslim Opponent of FGM Ousted From Mayo Clinic

By Hussein Rashid

…for allegedly supporting female genital mutilation (FGM). According to the site, Dr. Hatem al-Haj, a pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, says of FGM: I have always condemned Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM. Moreover, I have unequivocally voiced both orally and in written form the condemnation of all harmful forms of Female Genital Cutting FGC, justifiably known as FGM. Furthermore, I have taught that nothing in Islamic Law and religiou…

Carrie Prejean, God’s Prophet or Porn Star?

By Paula M. Cooey

…yeurism with the Patina of Beauty and Virtue One commenter on the Miss USA site, a budding theologian identified only as “CF,” asserted that it was obvious that God intended heterosexual sex only, based on anatomy and electricity (not election). CF likened male-female intercourse to plugging in a television set, writing, “If you look at the anatomy of a male and female, you’ll notice that it works in the same way. The male end goes into the female…

Dispatch from Charlottesville: “It Was a War Zone. It Felt Like There Were a Million Nazis.”

By Sunnivie Brydum

…n from state or city police and members of the National Guard, who were on-site for the entirety of this weekend’s planned and unplanned actions. A brief note: I spoke with Dr. Robyn hours before President Trump issued a statement that called racism “evil” and did include one explicit mention of “the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups” who inflict “racist violence.” But that statement, like other equivocating comments from t…

Rise of Episcopal Village

By Becky Garrison

…lican counterparts for year. She started Anglimergent, a social networking site to connect Anglicans globally. Recently, she co-founded Episcopal Village with Jon Myers, a postulant the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, who planted Beacon Hill Church Plant in south Seattle. This grassroots community and initiative has stated to serve as a resource for Episcopal dioceses, parishes and leaders for emerging/fresh expression mission with an Anglican ethos…

Prop 8 Ruling a True Test of Liberty (Religious or Otherwise)

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…t to their right to discriminate based on religious beliefs. Their new Web site even points out that “contemporary laws that ‘redefine’ marriage to include two persons of the same sex threaten to stifle the Church’s ability to teach publicly about and witness to the uniqueness of marriage as a lifelong bond between one man and one woman.” Which is ridiculous. They can still say what they want. What’s really threatened is their authority to have co…

Why Did Vandals Try to Destroy a Holy Tree?

By Joseph Laycock

…essness of the destruction. Ironically, the social value ascribed to these sites made them ripe for sacrifice. Had the vandals been the only ones on Earth who knew about the Eye of the Needle, it may never have occurred to them to destroy it. Certainly, no sadistic impulse could be satisfied by destroying something that no one was able to appreciate. Instead these sites were the locus of communities, traditions, and histories stretching back centu…