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In Praise of Failure: Is Defining Religion Such a Good Idea?

…ng any distinctive rights or obligations: bye-bye to the establishment and free-exercise clauses of the Constitution, etc. They might as well protect us from the “establishment” of widget and the “free exercise” thereof. Both are meaningless, since neither “widget” nor “religion” point to anything specific. Linker, on the other hand, takes the exact opposite tack: he legislates the meaning of “religion” as those particular referents marked by the…

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A Match Made in Hell: Demons Have Become a Serious Force in US Politics — But We’ve Seen This Show Before

…world as Unger did. Spiritualism returned in the form of the “New Age” and free love made a comeback. The American way of life that so many conservative Christians were attached to was threatened. Not surprisingly, demons returned with a vengeance. This crisis was channeled into films like Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Omen, catalyzing this fear around an imagined source: shadowy cults lorded over by the Devil and aided by demonic forces…

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Why Antisemitism is an Insufficient (and Risky) Explanation for Hamas’s October 7 Attack on Israel

…military solution. The only future is peace and safety for all—grounded in freedom, justice, and equality,” the ADL shot back saying their ideas “help give rise to antisemitism” and employ “antisemitic tropes.” “In this moment of confusion and pain, we must be clear about one thing: Every Palestinian life, every Jewish life, and every Israeli life is precious, and the Israeli government has failed all of those lives. Only peace, justice, and equal…

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The Tea Party, the Blind Man, and the Elephant: Part 1

…told a councilman that if he could find access to the shop he could have a free sub. Now the place hosts (and I mean hosts: free wings and sausage and their locally-famous sweet tea) a monthly tea party meeting. I’ll admit to being put off when a few weeks back the character of the sign changed: it said “a red-neck, Bible thumping (something or other) owns this joint,” making me feel generally unwelcome. Last night there were over 100 people there…

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Eat, Pray, Trash: What the Critics Don’t See

…kle with divinity. Of course, this has typically been understood as a male freedom. Gilbert flips the gender assumptions—she’s the one who leaves a spouse because she needs freedom—and some find the reaction against Eat Pray Love to be rooted in that sexist legacy. Romantic views of travel don’t stop with writers, of course. Quite the contrary: within certain circles, travel has come to be viewed as a marker of a generous, open-minded, cosmopolita…

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Kanye West’s Critique of Prosperity Preaching

…on the Internet. Fiasco shares his decision to put the song on the Web for free in verse: “I’m not trying to profit off the prophet so this one’s for free.” He does this, ironically, even as his lyrics laud one of the most prominent black prosperity preachers, Creflo Dollar. Apparently, the two share a commitment to, as Lupe puts it, “no sex before you’re married,” if not a business ethic. And then there’s the fact that Kanye recorded three differ…

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Another Far Right Theocrat Shows up on the Trump Team

…abeled bigoted and narrow-minded. Yet many clamor to deny Muslins the very free exercise rights for which Sekulow, and now also his son Jordan, litigated, with the ACLJ leading the fight against the nonexistent effort by Muslims to take over America by implementing Sharia. We’re seeing the rhetoric around “religious freedom” as Christian privilege, the denial of which is framed as persecution from the Trump Administration—but there are at least tw…

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Pope’s ‘Joy of Love’ Brings Little Joy To LGBT Catholics; Gay Atheist Malaysian Granted Refugee Status In Canada; Global LGBT Recap

…minalization of consensual gay sex in Morocco. South Africa: Even in ‘Born Free’ Generation, Black Lesbians Face Violence The BBC ran a report this week on anti-LGBT violence in South Africa, telling the story of a lesbian woman who was a member of the “born free generation” – born in 1994, the year apartheid ended – and who was murdered and mutiliated in December. In a country where crime rates in general are high, black lesbians in poor township…

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American Brokenness: A Lament

…ers; and to welcome them with open arms into the shared project of finding freedom, justice, and power together. That, as I always say, does not mean surrendering core principles or compromising them away. The truth, after all, is the truth. But I would love to see a sign at the next health care town hall meeting declaring WE SHARE YOUR PAIN AND WE NEED YOUR HELP. I would love to see Barney Frank or any other Congressperson say to a protester, “I…

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Florida Governor Signs Law Defending Educators’ Right to Witness

…events.” In January 2009, principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman were accused of violating the consent decree when “Lay asked Freeman to offer a prayer of blessing during a school-day luncheon for the dedication of a new field house at Pace High School. “Freeman complied with the request and offered the prayer at the event. It appears this was a school-sponsored event attended by students, faculty and community members.” In respo…

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