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Lindsey Graham and Al Qaeda Share the Same “Allahu Akbar”

…are the correct ones. Think about the term “jihad.” It’s one of the most abused and misused terms of its kind. The vast majority of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims understand the concept in a non-violent way; it’s a struggle, they say, to live a pious life in the face of challenges. Writes Asma Afsaruddin here in RD: If we put on our historical glasses, a considerably different picture emerges. The earliest connotations of jihad had to do with pat…

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Why is Liberty Institute Still Defending Phillip Monk?

…tween the lines here: Monk is, quite literally, the best example of discrimination against Christians in the military that the Liberty Institute could find. He was chosen not so much because his case is strong, but because he was willing. So it’s quite possible that they’re unwilling to let Monk’s case go because he’s all they have….

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Jack Ryan Uses Bible to Exonerate Wall Street, CIA

…; on the ideological level, the CIA shifts from an agency that might be accused of betraying national values to one for which we should be thankful. Ryan’s subsequent protection of Cathy and Wall Street reinforces the point. Perhaps because Jack Ryan seems almost unworthy of comment, reviewers have almost entirely failed to remark on its political messaging, except to note it as a part of a spate of conservative winter films. This oversight may be…

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Global LGBT Recap: Adventists Talk About, Not To, LGBT People; British Muslim Group Welcomes Gay-Rights Activist; Homophobia Exports Continue

…e subject of an investigation about whether he violated his town council’s code of conduct, which includes a clause saying that councilors must treat other people with respect. In the U.S. meanwhile, a congressional candidate who blamed gays for tornadoes and autism won the primary and will be the Republican challenger to Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Taiwan: Church-Sponsored ‘Happy Family’ Rally Draws Pro-Equality Protesters, Including Buddhist Nuns On Su…

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UPDATE: An Abrupt End to Quebec Separatist Plan to Ban “Ostentatious Signs” of Religion

…legislation also proposed to amend the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in order to enshrine the “equality of men and women” as the highest human right to which other rights (such as freedom of religious expression) would be subordinated.  From the initial indications from the government concerning this legislative initiative, in May 2013, through a noisy publicity campaign launched in September, to televised public hearings over the w…

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The Secret History of Easter

…rd “Easter” takes its name from a Germanic goddess. (The Romance languages use some form of the Latin “Pascha,” which is derived from the Hebrew “Pesach” meaning “Passover.”) It’s also true that Pagan fertility customs used in vernal equinox celebrations (eggs and rabbits) were incorporated into Easter festivities.  But Christians are hardly ignorant of this history. As early as the Protestant Reformation there were debates about purging Pagan ele…

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How Fitbit Helps a Conservative Evangelical College Monitor Students’ Bodies For Christ

…physical activity, and—as a cartoon in ORU’s student newspaper pointed out—users can also game the system by, for example, attaching the band to a hyperactive squirrel. More have criticized the policy for seeming, as Rob Quinn puts it, more “Orwell than Oral.” Why, then, does ORU continue to require its students to buy the expensive fitness band? The plan is good for everybody, ORU Provost Kathaleen Reid-Martinez argues, because the devices are co…

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California Tribes Denounce Catholic Church’s “Fraud” and “Blatant Fabrication” on Serra Sainthood

…people, and particularly the apology he offered while in Bolivia for the abuses that took place during the so-called conquest of the Americas. A letter from activist Suzan Harjo called it “incomprehensible” that Francis could make that apology and then confer sainthood on “a leading perpetrator of those very crimes.” “There is a yawning disconnect between what Pope Francis says about defending the poor and what he is actually doing to Indians in t…

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I’m Too Sexy for My Church: Will a Thriving Singles Scene Renew American Catholicism?

…of St. Monica’s morning Masses, whose more somber style turns out to be a better fit anyway. “Even if you’re completely over it and with somebody else, it’s not conducive to quiet prayer,” Sarah says. In this sense, dating through church might be riskier for the more devout. Of course, as Cynthia Kron, who runs the L.A.-based singles ministry Catholics Click, points out: this is the very group that cares most about dating fellow Catholics. One wo…

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Why Belief in the Primacy of Language Leads to a Misunderstanding of Richard Dawkins, Islamophobia, and Politics

…ere the father tells his son that they needn’t fear bad guys with guns because they have flowers and candles. What are some other examples of affective strategies that people use to combat Islamophobia or to respond to these fear-based responses? What really struck me about the clip was the way that the father was opening himself up to vulnerability. He struck me as somebody who had resigned himself to his vulnerability. And yet nonetheless he tho…

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