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The Other, Forgotten Apocalypse of 2011

…arnate in the form, respectively, of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The man reputed to be the Holy Spirit allegedly died when he flung himself off a cliff, believing he would have the ability to fly. Later, in the early years of the Vietnam War, another movement spread which proclaimed that Christ would return, perhaps wearing American clothes and distributing firearms. These rather cursory comments indicate that over the course of…

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Jesus Died For This?

…he pilgrimage I began in Jesus Died for This? to explore where this global spirit I keep encountering in my travels might be at work in the world. In light of the recent “Ground Zero-mosque” debates, I’m seeking out groups and indviduals who work with Muslims to answer the question posed by the rich, young ruler to Jesus: “Who is My Neighbor?” (See Luke 10:25-37.) Along those lines, I want to keep revisiting my ancestor Roger Williams’ legacy, as…

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Bachmann Weaves Own Salvation Story into Christian Nation Mythology

…hool, God gave her a “life verse,” 2 Corinthians 3:17 (Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.) And she used that “life verse” to wrap her own salvation story into an Christian American exceptionalism narrative. Liberty, said Bachmann “is the great animating principle of this nation.” Jesus, she went on, “came to set the captives free.” That, she went on, “is the essence of the founding of this nation.” B…

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The Pope Is Not the Church

…ian fashion. “In all times the laity have been the measure of the Catholic spirit,” Cardinal John Newman said more than a century ago. If what we expect from the Church is what we expect from the aged and insulated man who happens to hold the office of Peter, there is little reason to expect much. In the New York Times, Paul Elie recently suggested that in imitation of the papal resignation Catholics might “give up your pew for Lent”—that is, take…

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Does the Multifaith Model Work?

…f Biblical Hebrew. Yael is the co-founder and director of NYU’s Center for Spiritual Life and runs the Center with the same spiritual inclusiveness she personally espouses. In a recent article for Inquiring Mind, Shy elaborates on her dual Jewish-Buddhist practice. “I often ask myself, ‘Is it possible to engage in a non-superficial way, in two rich spiritual traditions?’ So, far the answer is a resounding yes!” Yael sees a kind of universality in…

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Jeffress is Both Right and Wrong on Religion & Politics

…ogate candidates’ religious beliefs. “The question is not whether personal spiritual beliefs shape a politician’s values and policies, but what spiritual beliefs mold those values and policies.” Indeed there may be times when it is legitimate to ask whether a candidate’s religious positions would have a direct impact on policy. Religious Right activist David Barton has declared that the Bible is opposed to progressive taxation, capital gains taxes…

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A Catholic’s Eulogy for the Harvard “Black Mass” Controversy

…he doing of good. But with respect to the black mass we have rejected that spirit and capitulated to a culture of abjection and hysteria. We heard the words “Satanist” and “black mass,” and quickly turned our eyes, ears, and hearts away from these people, assuring ourselves that we knew exactly what was going on, and that we wanted nothing to do with them. But what did we actually “know”? Much of the discussion in the Catholic world surrounding th…

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Christianity’s Greatest Counterfeit

…f their faith in the public square. The counterfeit here is the collective spirit, the shared attitude they exhibit together (like a church). That collective spirit has very little to do with the worship of a marginalized Jew, named Jesus, who came to free the poor and oppressed. This counterfeit Christian community worships power, desires control, and imagines the world revolving around self-sufficient men (and a few women). I call it “Mad Man Re…

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My Kind of Atheist

…s own contributions to the formation of “movement” Christianity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Then he dropped out, turned his back on that kind of power and glory. He produced low-budget movies for a time, wrote some decent autobiographical fiction, and finally returned to writing about the thing he knows best: the damage wrought by hard, doctrinal religion. One senses from this book that Schaeffer is at last free of the need to strap on his…

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Is the Satanist Behind 10 Commandments Challenge Sincere?

…hosts, dubious psychotherapists, “cult cops,” and Christians interested in spiritual warfare sent America into hysteria over Satanic conspiracies that resulted in innocent people being prosecuted and imprisoned. Greaves initially assumed stories of criminal Satanists must have some basis in fact. He sought out self-identified Satanists, meeting a priest of the Church of Satan and even former members of The Process Church of the Final Judgment. Whi…

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