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Debunking the Myth That Democracy Is “Incompatible” With Islam

By Asma Afsaruddin

…g no disjunction between religious beliefs and democratic principles. In a number of Muslim-majority countries, the preference was even stronger. In Jordan, for example, 54% of men and 55% of women want Sharia to be the only source of legislation. Interestingly, from a comparative perspective, a 2006 Gallup poll indicated that 46% of Americans say that they want the Bible to be a source of legislation. These findings corroborate earlier studies co…

The Internet Is Not Killing Religion, Religion is Killing Religion

By Elizabeth Drescher

…data on the correlation between the number of pipers in a village and the number of butts in local church pews. Across the pond in the American colonies, religion was not faring much better. In his masterful reconstruction of American religious history, Awash in a Sea of Faith (from which the previous anecdote is drawn), Jon Butler reports that Christianity was “in crisis” in the New World: Pennsylvania aside, the Restoration colonies of New York…

Naked Jihad

By Kate Blanchard

…a. An international movement called Femen staged bare-breasted protests in European cities, in which the writings on their chests echoed Amina’s, along with “Freedom for women” and “Fuck your morals.” (Be warned: photos contain nudity and strong language.) But Femen did not have the last word. Almost immediately, there was a backlash from some Muslim women who did not appreciate the “support.” A Facebook group, Muslim Women Against FEMEN, has enc…

New Research Links Spiritual-Not-Religious to Mental Disorder

By Elizabeth Drescher

…does, however, indicate that forthcoming research from his team on a wider European population will suggest that “Spiritual people seem to be more likely to develop mental distress.” Could this be because the religious keep telling the SBNR cohort they’re narcissistic, egotistic, self-centered, boring, and just generally less mentally healthy sorts of people? Or, might it be because practices of spiritual nurture and structured psychological suppo…

A Secret History of Satan

By W. Scott Poole

…n, in some cases public policy. The book makes the case that a significant number of Americans believe in the same Devil believed in by Puritan preachers and 19th-century evangelists. This cannot be dismissed. Its essential to understand why this is so, what historical conditions gave rise to this phenomenon and what does it tell us about the United States. Did you have a specific audience in mind when writing? I had several groups in mind, all of…

Religious Kids Are More Selfish: The Stickers Don’t Lie

By Michael Schulson

…ological modes into a single package called “religion” is a fairly recent, European, and Protestant phenomenon. Similarly, the idea that religiousness is separable from the rest of culture, in such a way that you can see it quantifiably motivating certain behaviors, would seem alien and weird to a lot of people, for whom Faith is not so easily distinguished from other strands of culture. In the case of a cross-cultural religiosity study, such as D…

Catholic Sex Teaching is No Laughing Matter

By Marian Ronan

…inhuman and degrading punishment” for same; indeed, it opposed an earlier European Union move to decriminalize homosexuality. And even if the Vatican were to oppose the criminalization of homosexuality, it’s still hard to argue that the language it uses doesn’t encourage violence against LGBT people. A good example is the 1995 document Persona Humana: Declaration On Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics, issued by the same Vatican office tha…

The Problem with AMC’s Sci-Fi Hit Humans

By Andrew Aghapour

…fear that technology might one day surpass us, the human form isn’t always best for the job. Take, for example, the synth telephone operator. Why create a physical robot for this job which has to receive audio through a wired earpiece and then respond via speaker into a microphone? Couldn’t synth software do the trick without complex parts that mimic the functions of ears and a mouth? Furthermore, wouldn’t it make better economic sense to distribu…

Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, and Pro-Home Birth

By Katherine Don

…omen of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds should have access to the best in reproductive health care, whether that means a safe abortion or the right to quality childbirth care in hospital, clinic, or home environment. The recent onslaught of feticide laws and personhood bills at the state level has made the connection between anti-choice legislation and birthing rights palpable, as even women who do not plan to have an abortion have been i…

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

By Rebecca Moore

…been acquired, and dress rehearsals occurred, all with the complicity of a number of individuals. Unfortunately that cohort included my older sister Carolyn Layton and my younger sister Annie Moore (both of whom died in Jonestown). But quite a few others were part of the conspiracy as well, including the team of young men from Jonestown who ambushed Congressman Ryan and his party as they attempted to leave. Knowing the identities of the conspirato…