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Giving Up God—Not Just a Spiritual Stunt

By Becky Garrison

…al marketplace? Linn Marie Tonstad suggests that I am participating in a postmodern marketplace of religious ideas, choosing my “beliefs” from a smorgasbord of options. But then in the last sentence she seems to suggest that there might be a “marketplace” motive to my actions—that I might stand to benefit in the marketplace from my yearlong experience of atheism. First of all, I’m not sure what the marketplace of religious beliefs and practices ha…

Eid on 9/11 Anniversary?

By Haroon Moghul

…a full pilgrimage through the seasons. When I was growing up, Ramadan, the most sacred month of the Muslim year, was in the winter. Muslims abstain from food, drink, and sex during daylight hours. Ramadan in the New England winter is a bit like cheating: Fasting for incredibly short days is nice and easy. (The cold weather also means there’s less to look at, if you follow my meaning.) This year, Ramadan comes in August. A lot of my fellow New York…

Intensive Care: Preachers’ Daughters Episode Five Recap

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…nterest, Demotius, and his pals. (Settle down. The pictures were perfectly modest and were for his mix tape. Incidentally, how wonderful is it that kids today still use the term “mix tape”?) While she’s out and completely unreachable by phone, her dad, Ken, goes into the hospital with breathing difficulties and is admitted to intensive care. Taylor finally gets the message, is stricken with remorse and concern, prays for her dad’s healing, and res…

Satanic FOIA Reveals Deep Confusion About 1st Amendment

By Joseph Laycock

…ld force the Illuminati to reveal their Luciferian plans to the world. But most callers essentially argued that the Ten Commandments should be allowed and the Satan monument forbidden because the framers of the Constitution founded the United States as an explicitly Christian nation. There was a palpable cognitive dissonance as constituents tried to formulate legal arguments that reconciled their ideas of America as both a Christian nation based o…

“What Kind of Islam Is That?”: Talking With Refugees From ISIS

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…quickly climbed into their cars at two o’clock in the morning and escaped. Most of the rest of the city joined them, he said. Now they are waiting in the camp, hoping for ISIS to leave the town so they can return. It was a story repeated by dozens of refugees that I met this summer in refugee camps and makeshift shelters in Kurdistan and southeastern Turkey. They seemed puzzled about who ISIS was and what they wanted. Most used the term “Daesh” fo…

Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus: 1946-2011

By Lauri Lebo

…I have spent much of my morning rereading Rainbow Pie. For me, some of the most powerful moments in his writing came from his descriptions of the inherent conflicts in his people’s faith and his unflinching look at the hard-edged doctrine of his evangelical upbringing. “In any case, Guilford County, North Carolina, didn’t hand out money to people, no matter how miserably poor, if it could be avoided. And it could indeed be avoided through court or…

Qaddafi Dies; Should it Matter How?

By Haroon Moghul

…palaces and attacking him in his own gaudy vanity projects. He made his last stand near the buildings he had lavished Sirte with. He who accused al-Qaeda of being behind Libya’s revolution ended his life releasing audiotapes only the Syrian government dared share. What do we learn from that? He was apparently found in a drainage pipe in Sirte, his hometown; ending where he began, under the ground not far from where he came into the world. Could h…

Why I Won’t Leave the Mormon Church Alone

By Holly Welker

…at the public school were often held at the Mormon church, and vice-versa. Most of my classmates, virtually all my friends, and much of my family were Mormon. At church I was commanded to keep a journal, examining my life for the narrative threads that guide my choices and determine my character. I will never shake this habit, no matter what. Truth be told, if the LDS church somehow lost all it leaders and members tomorrow and existed only as a hi…

AAA: Like a Good Neighbor

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…he side of the road with a flat tire, or a broken down car, that help is just a phone call away. It also gives me discounts on lodging and other perks. My partner has a gold card with her name on it as well. The account number on both cards is the same. Years ago, when we signed up for the cards with the venerable roadside assistance company AAA, the woman at the counter smiled sweetly and never blinked an eye when we asked for the “family” plan….

Pope Decries ‘Ideological Colonization’ of Family; Islamic State Executes Gays and Others; Gay Couple Gets Long-Delayed Wedding in Mexico; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…reproductive justice advocacy group. “But it is also so narrowly writ that most of their initiatives and arguments don’t hold up under international law.” WCF, however, is gradually chipping away at international laws designed to protect human rights, posing a direct threat to LGBTQ people, women’s reproductive freedom, single parents, mixed families, and other family structures that do not fit into the parameters of WCF’s “natural family.” At bes…