Search for "airline tickets from spikane to slc ut cheap phone number 1-800-299-7264"

$50 Billion Fundamentalist Free Fall

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…lming feeling of crisis on Wall Street and throughout the country. Simply put, a number of Madoff’s investors needed their money (even the very wealthy are feeling pinched in this downturn), and he was confronted with the impossibility of meeting the looming demand for a $7 billion payout. Some weeks ago, I wrote a short history of John Law, purveyor of the first such Ponzi scheme in France. His story sounds eerily familiar this week. More maddeni…

Post-Election, “Is The Black Church Dead?” Redux

By Anthea Butler

…Obama’s impassioned “preacher voice” was not enough to draw black voters out in record numbers as they did in 2008, even though a poll in the New York Times showed his favorables to be extremely high in the African-American community, while he is losing traction with other groups who voted for him in 2008. Issues in the community surrounding foreclosures and unemployment are likely to continue. If the black church writ large is to have any stake…

Can The Religious Left Be Effective Again? Longer Answer: Quizás

By Daniel Schultz

…gh participation rates are increasing among these types of churches, they represent a small percentage of all churches. Fulton explains that a lot of this increase is due to the debates over immigration reform; but even factoring that in, Hispanic churches are becoming more politically active. The number of congregations might be few, but they may also be larger communities, representing a substantial number of people. In any case, the trend will…

‘Religious Freedom’ Rally Sets Stage for 1st Amendment Collision

By Sarah Posner

…with abortion advocates” who “completely ignor[ed] all the evidence being put out over the last 30 years.” That “evidence,” Alvaré maintained, demonstrates that government-subsidized birth control causes “the immiseration of women.” That the Obama administration based its policy on the IOM’s recommendations, Alvaré charged, raises the possibility that it was acting out of “animus” toward the Church. An “Unwelcoming” Womb Inside the building that h…

The Quixotic Task of Debunking David Barton

By Paul Harvey

…ions in letters to complete strangers); 4) statements with a “kernel” of truth but blown so far out of proportion as to end up being false (such as Jefferson wanting federal funding for Indian missions, when in fact the titles of the bills simply took on the name of already existing religious societies); 5) baffling assertions that are so far out of the realm of reality as to be neither “true” nor “false,” but simply bizarre (such as Barton’s defe…

Prisoners In the Hands of an Angry God: A Conversation About Religion and Reform

By Andrew Aghapour and Stephanie Gaskill

…d this is a denomination often associated with some more punitive ideas about God. But Cain also voices support for reforms that are typically considered to be liberal, like parole eligibility for people sentenced to life without parole, and compassionate release for elderly prisoners. Cain advocates for moral rehabilitation, and has frequently said that if people could just see how men at Angola have been rehabilitated, then they would support re…

Warships, Animals, Pubs Eligible For Blessings From Church of England, But Not Same-Sex Couples; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…val’s official award for LGBT-themed films. “We come from Taiwan, a small but beautiful island, which may soon become the first country in Asia with same-sex marriage this year. This award is the best gift for those who have been fighting for the marriage equality,” said director Huang in her acceptance speech. The documentary is a letter from Huang to her mother, who silently suffered from an abusive relationship that arose from a forced marriage…

What do the January 6 Commission, Covid Deaths and Gun Massacres All Have in Common? God’s Chosen

By John Stoehr

…Every day that goes by takes the United States farther away from this covenant, and closer to God’s enemies. I think every single shooting massacre, one way or another, is rooted in this political concept: that God’s enemies deserve what’s coming to them. We talk a lot about the Republicans and their information bubble. But that doesn’t cause people to believe they are God’s chosen. That kind of thinking has been with us since before the founding…

Now That ‘Serial’ is Over: 2014’s Best Podcasts about Religion

By Andrew Aghapour

…files that can be streamed on the web or downloaded straight to your smartphone (think radio meets YouTube). Low overheads have made podcasting a diverse and democratic medium, attracting everyone from established radio programs to Christian pastors and stand-up comedians. To help you make it through the holidays I’ve compiled a list of this year’s best podcasts about religion. My criteria were strict, my methods thorough: I’ve been listening to…

Is Twitter Doing Enough to Remove Extremist Content? An Ex-Employee Weighs In

By Sofi Hersher

…nd should be removed. Note that on average 6,000 Tweets are posted each minute, totaling about 500 million each day. As Twitter doesn’t (and never has, and realistically never could) actively mediate content, even if each piece of offending material was reported using available tools it would still constitute one of the world’s largest games of “whack-a-mole.” In light of near universal calls for Twitter, Facebook, Ask.fm and other social media si…