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Why Bill Maher Gets a “C” in My Introduction to Religion Class…

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…Mark C. Taylor: Religion can be understood as a system of symbols (creed, code, cultus) by means of which people (a community) orient themselves in the world with reference to both ordinary and extraordinary powers, meanings, and values. (Albanese) Religion, I would argue, is a complex adaptive network of myths, symbols, rituals, and concepts that simultaneously figure patterns of feeling, thinking, and acting and disrupt stable structures of mea…

Is Christianity Simply About God Entering the Uterus of a Jewish Virgin?

By Eric Reitan

Just the other day, a friend forwarded me a mass-mailed promotion for Free Inquiry magazine (a publication in which, incidentally, I had an article published a couple of years ago). The brochure was emblazoned with the following warning: “If you wish to avoid spending eternity roasting in HELL, do not open and read this brochure.” Having no fear of hell, I opened it and fished for what my friend said would be inside: a note from Richard Dawkins e…

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

By Megan Sweas

…ct rather than the goal of young adult ministry. At a post-Mass dinner for newcomers to the YMA, several of the 26 women and 14 men—both new and old members—say they’re seeking friendship and community. Most newcomers introduce themselves as transplants from around the country. A young man, visiting from Michigan, is checking out the church community to see if Santa Monica might be a good place to move. A group leader emphasizes that through YMA y…

Romney Banking on Trump’s Birthers Pulling Him Over Finish Line

By Sarah Posner

…ruary, that Romney was replaced by this one: [W]ithout question, the legal code in this country is based upon Judeo-Christian values and teachings, Biblical teachings, and for the president not to understand that a wide array of religions and a conviction that Judeo-Christian philosophy is an integral part of our foundation is really an extraordinary thing. I think again that the president takes his philosophical leanings in this regard, not from…

Marriage Debate in Australia Shifts To Push For Religious Exemptions; and More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…on 377, that criminalizes sex between men in India, the ruling was welcome news. And it has renewed some hope for the repeal of other repressive laws, including one requiring the “registration and control of eunuchs” and marital rape exceptions in the Indian Penal Code. … Depictions of gender-fluid identity are common in ancient texts found in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, gods transform into goddesses, or they cross-dress. Men beco…

The “Majority Victimhood”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…-side on her ﬁnely-crafted sofa we knew the jig was up. They knew, and we knew they knew. They never said a word, and their hospitality continued to be perfect – but we were suddenly tired, and needed to go to bed. I wonder, to this day, if we had told them at the beginning that we were gay if they would have rented the room to us. The uncomfortable silence as Buchanan spewed his vitriol that night makes me think they might have told us they were…

Creationism and Global Warming Denial: Anti-Science’s Kissing Cousins?

By Lauri Lebo

…Lemon test,” said Steve Newton. The hot-button issues of human cloning (a code word for abortion, Newton says) and global warming are linked to increase the appearance of evolution’s controversy. Fostering Fear of Science The science blog Denialism has a list of themes used in the global warming debate that have been similarly deployed in intelligent design battles: Well-funded think tanks are capable of derailing a scientific consensus, in this…

Breivik’s Emasculation Paranoia Fueled Vision for Patriarchal “Reforms”

By Julie Ingersoll

…areers for women; and reforming the media such that 1950s gender norms are promoted and “sex and the city lifestyles” are discouraged. He claims the only other alternative to these “reforms,” which he acknowledges are restrictions on women’s rights, is “the creation of a network of surrogacy facilities in low cost countries and basically ‘outsource breeding,’” with the state as foster parent because “career obsessed” women would not prioritize car…

Whatchoo Talkin Bout, Senator Reid? Obama’s African-American Dialect is Religious

By Jonathan L. Walton

…e antebellum South. And many people of color are well versed at linguistic code-switching depending on the context. So why should I be offended by Senator Reid’s astute observation? If anyone should be offended it should be the critical mass of Americans, of all racial, ethnic and political perspectives, who are so informed by the logic of white supremacy that they fail to interrogate the correlations between dark skin tone and negativity or light…

Joel Osteen and Annise Parker: Strange Stage-fellows

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…st famous pastor, but he chose to deliver a positive prayer for his city’s new mayor. It’s almost enough to warm my heart toward Osteen – who last year told the ladies on The View that homosexuality is not “God’s best” for people. Then I read a statement from Don Iloff Jr., a spokesman for Osteen, on why he chose to pray at the event: “If you ask Joel he’ll tell you ‘when I can pray at an event over government leaders and in Jesus’ name it’s hard…