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Denying Darwin: Another Peculiar American Institution

…scrutiny. After one of my talks, I joined a group of University College of London graduate students at a local pub. Gemma Gordon and Lindsay Hodgson, both products of England’s public schools, shared stories of being taught about the Bible in the classroom. But they also studied the Koran and the Torah. They learned about Hinduism and Buddhism. All students must take a comparative religions class. The notion that this isn’t the case in the United…

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‘Anti-Romeo’ Vigilante Squads Target Men Suspected Of Being Gay; More in the Global LGBT Recap

…married in first month; Lutheran priests barred from officiating More than 800 same-sex couples were married in March after marriage equality went into effect on the first of the month; 770 had already been in civil partnerships. The Lutheran Evangelical Church has decreed that priests are not permitted to marry same-sex couples and some bishops warned that those who do would face “consequences.” From a March 1 story: In spite of the church rulin…

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Snake-Handlers, False Messiahs, and a Few Great Souls: 14 Who Died in 2014

No other end-of-year list can hope to offer such profound juxtapositions: a groundbreaking female Mennonite pastor alongside an “immortalist”; the transcendent wisdom of a civil rights leader alongside one of the most hate-filled religious figures in contemporary memory. But here it is, a connect-the-dots portrait of a powerfully complicated American religious landscape, circa 2014. Vincent Gordon Harding Historian and theologian Vincent Gordon H…

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The Sacred and the Dead: The Trouble with Sugar Magnolia

…r “Ripple” conversation, and today, there are hundreds of Dead songs on my phone and dozens of live recordings in playlists, even a nod when I see a Deadhead sticker on a car. I am a relapsed Catholic, and thanks to my friend, I am also a repentant Deadhead. Dear Jesus, let me confess: I even wear Birkenstocks. Shannon. Deadshow, Deadhead. Dominquez Hills, 1990. Photo by ChasM3/https://www.flickr.com/photos/chasm3/ “Sugar Magnolia,” however, still…

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The Horror Mugabe Doesn’t Want the World to See

…ey were quickly dispersed by heavily armed, helmeted riot police (see cell phone photo, top). “If they catch you,” one student matter of factly told Donaghue at the buffet, “you are going to be cut like a goat from head to toe.” The students all knew people who had been beaten or tortured by Mugabe’s agents. Donaghue met one receiving treatment in a hospital, most of which are now closed, partly because even when staff are paid, “it costs more to…

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UK Atheist Church Invasion

…d of the Sunday Assembly. We thought this would take a lot longer to grow. London could be such a lonely place, and church has always played that role in bringing people together. So we assumed people would come, see it was a good time, and eventually we would start doing community things. Sanderson Jones: Given our background as comics, we’re used to trying things out and then if enough people come, you do it again. We thought we’d give it an exp…

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The Transfiguration of the Fanboy: How I Lost One Leper Messiah, and Gained Another, The Conclusion

…n you. — Luke 17:21   Endnotes [1] Quoted in Mick Rock, Blood and Glitter (London, UK: Vision On Publishing, 2001), unnumbered page. [2] Marc Spitz, Bowie: A Biography (New York: Crown, 2009), p. 214. [3] Quoted in Mick Rock, Blood and Glitter (London, UK: Vision On Publishing, 2001), unnumbered page. [4] Ellen Degeneres: Search YouTube. As of this writing, an excerpt from the episode in question could be found here. “Totally credible plastic rock…

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The World Was His Canvas: The Legacy of M.F. Husain

…lorer of art, life, and beauty until a couple of weeks before his death in London on Thursday June 9. In 2003, to celebrate his 88th birthday, he produced 88 oils across four Indian cities. “After open-heart surgery they said: ‘take it easy, and only paint miniatures,’” he scoffed, referring to an operation he had in 1988. Yet controversy embroiled him from the mid-’90s because he loved, and painted from, India. Politically-minded Hindu partisans…

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America, the Mythical: “Mother of Exiles” or Denier of Safe Haven?

…eruse. It would, perhaps, be just as well to say that the Mayflower Pub in London is the place where “America was born” as Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. Of course there is no real moment when “America was born.” That a pub in South London is as suitable a christening place as a beach in New England speaks to the arbitrary power of myths. As concerns the religious separatists of 1620, legend can be as potent as fact. The pilgrims, and later the P…

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America, the Mythical: “Mother of Exiles” or Denier of Safe Haven?

…eruse. It would, perhaps, be just as well to say that the Mayflower Pub in London is the place where “America was born” as Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. Of course there is no real moment when “America was born.” That a pub in South London is as suitable a christening place as a beach in New England speaks to the arbitrary power of myths. As concerns the religious separatists of 1620, legend can be as potent as fact. The pilgrims, and later the P…

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