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‘I Don’t Buy It’: The Gospel According to Frank Underwood

By Cathleen Falsani

…articulate. He said more in a wad of spittle than he could have in a five-minute monologue. Frank talks to God twice in Season 1, the first time during his eulogy for a girl in his hometown Gaffney, S.C., who dies when she steers her car into a giant peach-shaped water tower while texting. He begrudgingly agrees to speak at the girl’s funeral (he feels neither remorse nor responsibility for her death) where he begins by saying, “You know what no…

“Jack” Willke, Pro-Life Demagogue Dies at 89

By Daniel Silliman

…llke nevertheless stood by his claims, telling the New York Times the real number was “way under 1 percent.” In part, the claim was justified by distinguishing between types of rape, which was exactly the thing that upset people so much about Akin’s statement. Willke’s rhetoric could also exhibit some of the more hysterical tendencies of the pro-life movement. In one letter to supporters, for example, he alleged that abortionists were harvesting a…

Muslim Women Create a Mosque of Their Own in Los Angeles

By Brie Loskota

…Hasna Maznavi,* who serves as the project’s President, was busy with last minute event planning and logistical details. Her dream to create a mosque that welcomed and empowered women was on the verge of becoming a reality: “I was anxious before but I’m not now; everything is falling into place,” she told me. That optimism was no doubt bolstered by more than 225 RSVPs from prospective attendees as well as the growing media attention that their wor…

Jews and Muslims Join Forces for Academic Freedom

By Rebecca Alpert

…n at Iftar to break the daily fast. But the event was canceled at the last minute, and the gift of the endowed chair was ultimately refused by the University. The ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) had alerted one of Temple’s Board members that IIIT was an organization with “terrorist” associations and our president was intimidated into refusing the gift. A bit of research revealed that the opposition was based on inaccurate information found o…

Pope Francis Brokers End to Cuba Embargo, Despite Opposition of Catholic Pols

By Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado

…s a peculiar exile, I think, an island-colony. We can reach it by a thirty-minute charter flight from Miami, yet never reach it at all.” Today, Cuba is more in our reach. As a Cuban-American from Miami I have been raised amidst the existential crisis of the Cuban exile community, a community with a rabid anger towards the Castro regime and simultaneous love and compassion for their fellow Cubans on the island. I, like many children of exiles, was…

“Nobody Is Innocent”: David Gushee on Sexual Ethics, Suffering, and Full Inclusion for LGBT Christians

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…me a long time and I hope that my regret for the long journey is clearly communicated in the book. I am sorry it took me so long to put it all together. It’s like being in a movie where someone is trying to crack a safe and there’s six numbers and you have to get all six numbers right for the safe to open. I think that’s what’s happened for me. Finally, all six numbers came up and I was able to open the safe and I could see this in a new way. Tha…

Barbara Ehrenreich’s ‘Wild God’ is Not Here to Help

By Angela Bonavoglia

…ve as the scent of joewood flowers,” she writes, but then turn on you in a minute. It is neither “benevolent” nor “malevolent,” both descriptions she castigates as “flagrantly anthropocentric.” “Why,” she asks, “‘should it be ‘for’ us or ‘against’ us any more than the God of monotheism should favor the antelope over the lion?” She sees evidence of the Presence’s diabolical side, noting that St. John of the Cross “likened the Other he encountered i…

Conservative Bishops Get “Different Translation” Dialing Back Language on LGBT Acceptance

By Patricia Miller

…hijacked by moderates who were added to the drafting committee at the last minute by Pope Francis and that the widespread, positive media coverage of the gay-friendly language made it difficult for the Vatican to retreat on the issue. Francis’ closest ally at the synod, German Cardinal Walter Kasper, also found himself under attack for comments he reportedly made about African prelates in an interview with Zenit. When asked about reports that Fran…

New Accusations Force the Question: Will Bishops “Be Held Accountable” on Sexual Abuse, as Francis Promised?

By Patricia Miller

…r Jennifer Haselberger, oversaw a desultory abuse screening and monitoring process that allowed suspected pedophiles to remain at large in the community for years) did move immediately to force out Jamie Moore, the long-time music director at St. Victoria Catholic Church in Victoria, Minnesota, the minute he found out that Moore had married his partner the previous weekend. And while it’s true that Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, who was found gui…

Morality Police, Jihadists, Religious Competition, Grindr, & Americans Abroad: Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Crimes reports that police in Beirut are using messaging apps on the cell phones of arrestees to try to entrap other gay men. In related news, the smartphone app Grindr, which allows gay men to find each other, announced it would permanently disable an option that allowed people to see their distance from other users. There have been reports that police in Egypt and Iran have used Grindr to hunt and arrest gay men. Jamaica: Activist Drops Challen…