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Is the Satanic Temple Just an Elaborate Prank? 10 Questions for the Author of ‘Speak of the Devil’

…ogressive Satanic groups. These kinds of fractures are extremely common in new religious movements, but they are also painful for those involved. In covering this split, I have tried to honor the stories of all my interview subjects, but some may feel I wasn’t fair to one side or another. What alternative title would you give the book? The Devil and the First Amendment How do you feel about the cover? I like it a lot. There was a lot of anxiety ab…

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Whistleblower Alleges $100B Hoarding Scandal by LDS Church; But There’s An Easy Fix

…t the church from hoarding this wealth (though other provisions of the tax code do). Transparency would simply require the church to disclose the details of their cache. Sunlight does not burden religious liberty, it cures fraud and abuse. Asking for transparency from every nonprofit is perfectly legal, but Congress has not acted. In an era of congressional gridlock and where civil rights laws demanding equality are maligned as anti-religious libe…

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Catholic Anti-Nuke Activists Looking at 20 Years in Prison a True Test for Religious Freedom

…ons, such as a Sikh who successfully sued the Army in 2015 over a grooming code that would have required him to shave his beard and remove his turban. Justice, not to mention old wisdom about geese and ganders, demands that our judicial system should treat like cases alike. Either sincere religious conviction should be a defense, or it shouldn’t. There should be a healthy debate about the place and extent of religious exemption in contemporary, pl…

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Jerry Falwell Jr. Is Corrupt, but Liberty U’s Problems Go Far Deeper

…ntracts to family friends; and how he ordered his staff to violate IRS tax code. Falwell’s been able to get away with such behavior partly because he doesn’t fear his board of trustees, which is essentially just a collection of close friends of the family. As noted above, Mark DeMoss, the one trustee who did speak up in disagreement of Falwell’s endorsement of Trump, was immediately removed from the board—a testament to Falwell’s Trumpian fragilit…

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For Many Christian Zionists, Israeli Protesters are a Threat to God’s Plan

…ians and Muslims—who oppose their far-right agenda. And it’s certainly not new for Christian Zionists to promote conspiracy theories that invoke deep-state and globalist references to elite liberal, and even Jewish, power ruining the State of Israel and God’s plans. Insisting on Jewish unity and relocation to Israel interferes with the sustainability of Jewish communities in the Diaspora, and becomes particularly manipulative when driven primarily…

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Lost and Found: Despite the Hope, Morality, and Meaning Inspired by Deconversion, Why is Respect Only For Those Who Find God?

…cy in some detail for Religion Dispatches. To add a few more examples, the New York Times has established a permanent home for columnists like Ross Douthat, who warns of the “grim data” on declining religiosity. Rather than establish clearly what’s so grim about it, the article makes two seemingly contradictory accusations against people who’ve left the faith. First, Douthat warns of encroaching “scientism” which, in this context, is code for fail…

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Democratic Hopeful Pete Buttigieg Makes Faith 101 Misstep

…dominant tradition in modern Judaism. Nor do many Christians get that the New Testament sees Pharisees through a partisan lens, as it were. They were rivals to the nascent Jesus movement, and often their rhetorical targets. Second and more positively, Buttigieg speaks of the need to represent all comers, religious or not. Good on him for that. Much of the discussion around faith and politics brackets non-believers and the religiously unaffiliated…

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A Jew in Church? No Big Deal

…r worldly peers while simultaneously beholden to an arcane and restrictive code of behavior—is actually rather compelling. “Being tugged in one direction by the secular world and in another by the religious world, they have styled their own compromise,” he says, “[and yet] they also feel an unbearable sense of loneliness and despair.” But the extent to which Cohen understands his own motivations for journeying into Christendom is unclear. “I’m hop…

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

…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…

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Layoffs on the Religious Right

…olics in Alliance for the Common Good. According to a Faith in Public Life news release, the topics explored in the new survey include: • Candidate friendliness to religion • The impact of Sarah Palin’s nomination on evangelical voters • Support for a broader values agenda • Attitudes toward a common ground approach on abortion • Voting issue priorities • Beliefs about causes of the economic crisis Go here for complete results. ++++++++++ Rev. Moo…

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