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Can Interfaith Dialogue Cure Religious Violence?

By Lucia Hulsether

…sh invaded Afghanistan, he instituted an annual Presidential Iftar dinner, using the platform to distinguish between “faithful” Muslims from “killers… [who] follow an ideology very different from Islam.” Or, in a 2010 speech at the Muslim Advocates’ Annual Dinner, Attorney General Eric Holder encouraged his audience to “unite law enforcement and Muslim communities,” especially with respect to expanding Homeland Security surveillance regimes: “Ther…

Scope Bacon, Twttr Hoaxes & Joel Osteen’s Big Reveal

By Deborah Whitehead

…gn and promotional website including a promo video that went viral, that a number of customers were disappointed and angry to find out that it was a fake. Part of the confusion seems to have been that the launch occurred on March 28, not the customary April 1. But just as important was consumer demand. Enough people were convinced by the slick product rollout that they actually wanted to try it. “That’s not funny. I really wanted a sample,” compla…

Is Buddhism Opposed to Self-Defense?

By M. Sophia Newman

…tation in the Himalayas. She later assisted self-defense courses in Delhi, using curricula from a martial arts academy she attends in Chicago. Demand for classes jumped dramatically after the Pandey murder, a situation which Nancy Lanoue, the Chicago school’s founder, compared to America in 1993: “When the Mia Zapata murder occurred… self-defense was getting attention from many folks who usually ignored it.” Lanoue (who, like Epperson, is versed i…

Do Intelligent People Need Religion?

By Brett Beasley

…ional intelligence” or “creative intelligence” the researchers persists in using the term “intelligent people” to describe only those people with higher analytical abilities. Even more questionably, it reduces religion to either a measurable level of belief in the supernatural or participation in religious ritual. That the study’s logic is circular (if religion is intuitive and intelligence is analytical, how could they possibly correlate positive…

Buddha as Scientist, Entrepreneur & Self-Improvement Guru

By Michael Schulson

…on escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth, and much more emphasis on using Buddhism to relax the mind and channel entrepreneurial energies. 2) Buddhist geekiness comes in a few distinct forms. This observation comes by way of Ann Gleig, a scholar of Buddhist geekiness brought in by the Buddhist Geeks Conference to talk to Buddhist Geeks about what it is that makes them Buddhist Geeks. Gleig argues that some Buddhist Geeks see Buddhism as a t…

SCOTUS Tackles Government Prayer in Greece v. Galloway

By Becky Garrison

…etter street lighting, sidewalk repairs, etc.) singling yourself out by refusing to take part in the prayer can be problematic. In a move that raised some eyebrows the Obama administration filed an amicus brief in support of Greece and the ADF. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli’s brief referred to the 1983 Marsh ruling, arguing that “Courts should not parse or evaluate the content of prayer.” The other briefs filed were, predictably, split along i…

Paul Crouch, Architect of Prosperity Gospel Televangelism, Dead at 79

By Sarah Posner

…e and his wife built their network, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, using tax-exempt donor funds, frequently, former insiders have charged, for their own enrichment. In 2004, the conservative Christian financial watchdog Ministry Watch issued a scathing report on the network, charging that its “huge cash stockpile” should be spent on charitable works, rather than on the Crouches’ personal luxuries. That same year, the Los Angeles Times ran…

Is the Satanist Behind 10 Commandments Challenge Sincere?

By Joseph Laycock

…pists were still encouraging claims of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) and even using hypnosis and other therapies to induce “memories” of abuse in their patients. He began to write articles attacking groups like the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISST-D), which promotes the theory that trauma causes dissociative states and represses memories of Satanic crime. Not Your Parents’ Satanism In 2005, Greaves had lunch with P…

Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Apartheid” and suggests that many of the continent’s political leaders are using attacks on homosexuality as a way to divert attention from their failures: Even as economies continue to grow and middle classes emerge, rampant inequality burns holes in the aspirations of the continent. Where then does this leave the gay community? They’ve merely become a red herring, a distraction, to divert attention from the failing democratic culture among so ma…

Finding the Missing Airliner with Coconuts

By Joseph Laycock

…ternational Airport and attempted to locate Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 using a magical ritual that combined Islamic elements with shamanic practices. On Thursday Ibrahim Mat Zin, also known as Rajah Bomoh Sedunia Nujum, delivered a press conference (in which he demonstrated a squint that bore an uncanny resemblance to Pat Robertson.) He initially stated that he had been invited to perform his ritual by one of Malaysia’s “top leaders,” but then…