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Religion or Insanity? Two Upcoming Murder Trials Will Ask the (Burning) Question

By Joseph Laycock

…re attempting to kill herself. Christensen claimed she was responding to a phone call from her husband, a pastor, who announced that the world was ending and to get the family ready. Cases such as this raise questions that have long gone unanswered about how the state should define “religion.” By what criteria should we decide whether deviant beliefs and actions are an expression of religion or evidence of a medical problem? Dr. Kolchak points out…

James Foley Prayed, But He Was Not a Martyr

By Alana Massey

…ect of both personal and corporate prayer. When he speaks to his mother by phone from Libya, she asks if he has felt the prayers coming from his home as well. He tells her that he has felt them and reports, “Maybe it was others’ prayers strengthening me, keeping me afloat.” This is precisely the kind of hope that prayer can inspire that should become central to the understanding of it for those of us who do not engage in prayer. Though the old aph…

Terror In South Carolina

By Sarah Posner

…nfederate flag still flies, and in museums where secession is treated as an essential part of the state’s history, and sanitized as disassociated from anything having to do with race or slavery. In his floor speech, Pinckney referred to the body cameras as “new eyes for seeing” for the doubting Thomases. No doubt he keenly understood how those new eyes are needed metaphorically as well, something that, tragically, will require repeating as we seek…

Black Masses Continue to Titillate Conservative Catholics

By Joseph Laycock

…cedented attention. Mayor Mick Cornett has already received 450 emails and phone calls opposing the event. Archbishop Paul Coakley has also condemned the event and called on Catholics to protest if it moves forward. Daniels, naturally, has expressed delight that his antics are finally provoking Church officials. This newfound energy has nothing to do with Daniels and everything to do with the events of last May. An online petition features footage…

The Real Mormon Moment

By Joanna Brooks

…rit and a fearful rigidity. Nor does it diminish the fear and despair this new wave of disciplinary actions is inciting among progressive Mormons who have anxiously wondered over this past week whether a letter or a meeting request might be on the way for them too. Over the past few days, I have been getting Facebook messages and phone calls from rank-and-file Mormons not interviewed by the Times relaying that they too have been accosted or called…

Confessions of a Hater

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…‘Great, a damn religion class taught by dyke.’” I laughed out loud —and a new, if still uneasy, friendship began to take root. After that, he stayed more often after class, one day whipping out his phone to show me a photo of a white supremacist leader standing up in a convertible during what was obviously a white pride parade. The red-faced, fist waving man in the picture was flanked by two little girls sitting in the back seat, arms crossed wit…

Giving Up God—Not Just a Spiritual Stunt

By Becky Garrison

…At the beginning, I set this up as a religious liberty argument because I knew other Adventists would have a problem with same-sex relations. From there, I took the argument that one should not use one’s sexuality to harm others. It’s wrong if you’re using your sexuality to hurt people, but I no longer felt that committed same sex relationships were not pleasing to God. And that went against church teachings. My church supported me but the Souther…

“Fast for Families” Immigration Reform Effort Enters 20th Day

By Joanna Brooks

…understand things in a larger context. When I came home from my mission I knew I wanted to go to law school and do immigration work. Two years ago LDS Church leaders went on record in support of compassionate immigration reform. How has that impacted your work? I get phone calls from LDS people who would identify themselves as politically conservative, but they say, “There’s this guy I know . . . Can you help him? He’s a really good guy.” People…

Why is Liberty Institute Still Defending Phillip Monk?

By Rob Shryock

…akes the claim that this evidence is “totally at odds with the Air Force’s new official explanation” willfully misleading. From the beginning, the Air Force claimed they moved up Monk’s redeployment when his replacement arrived early, making Monk’s continued presence in his old unit unnecessary and redundant, whereas he was needed in his new unit. Monk has, to the best of my knowledge, not responded to this charge. It’s apparent here just how weak…

Walking Dead and Zombie Ethics, or “Don’t Fight the Zombies. You Can’t Win”

By Kelly J. Baker

…is no shortage of theories. David Denby, writing about World War Z for the New Yorker, notes, “The zombies aren’t like us; they are us, just degraded a little.” But what do zombies symbolize really? Are they us or aren’t they? Or are they symbolic of larger themes like consumerism, terrorism, neoliberalism, or epidemics? And how did these monsters become representative of our current moment? Much of this ambiguity comes from the nature of the zomb…