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False Saviors: Trump, Cruz, and the Gospel of the Quick Fix

By Marcia Pally

…es its failure. Adam and Eve fail in chapter three, with consequences in exile. Humanity fails in chapter seven, with consequences in flood. The great patriarch Abraham has an uneven record (he sells his wife Sarah to other men, twice, and banishes his own son Ishmael, whom God has to step in and save) with consequences in four generations of intra-family lying, cheating, betrayal, and violence until, in chapter forty-seven, Joseph reconciles with…

A Debate Rages in India Over Conversion, Secularism, and “Spiritual Violence”

By Murali Balaji

…l for Asia and WorldVision are among the largest benefactors of aid, primarily from America. While these missionary groups coerce peacefully, or simply just offer money from their well-funded coffers to get locals (usually village elders first) to convert, the predatory proselytization reflects what religion scholar Rita Sherma calls “spiritual violence,” a derivation of Johan Galtung’s concept of cultural violence. From a historical perspective,…

Can the Catholic Church Survive Trump?

By Patricia Miller

…ket Fund for Religious Liberty, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Family Defense Council. Working in tandem with the highest profile culture warriors like Baltimore’s Archbishop Lori and New York’s Cardinal Dolan, they helped steer the more confrontational posture of the U.S. bishops’ conference. Byrnes argues that it’s foolish for any religious institution to tie itself too clearly to any political party for the simple reason that parties a…

Are You There God? It’s Us, Googling

By Michael Schulson

…ed by a very different set of rules than in previous contests for theological legitimacy. And often, when people express doubt on the web, those most ready to answer will also be those most dogmatic in their beliefs. Also on The Cubit: Is It OK To Use a Cellphone in Church?…

Indonesian Court Rejects Religious Conservatives’ Bid To Criminalize Gay Sex; More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…s love. And it is free. Marriages conducted before passage of the new law will still be recognized. The head of Bermuda’s tourism authority had been criticized for warning senators that reversing marriage equality could cause the country “serious reputational damage.” But supporters of the legislation said it reflected public opposition to marriage equality. Winston Godwin, the person whose legal challenge led to the marriage equality ruling, urge…

First U.S. Visit of the Virgin Mary Confirmed in Wisconsin

By Lewis Wallace

…58 Marian apparition. Bernadette Soubirous was a peasant girl who fit a similar profile to Wisconsin’s Adele Brise; her ongoing apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a grotto outside the small mountain village of Lourdes drew crowds just a year before Adele’s faraway apparitions. After controversy at Lourdes drew the Vatican’s attention, the Bishop of Tarbes swiftly initiated an investigation into Bernadette’s sightings. In four years the grotto was c…

How the Politics of the 1890s Explain the GOP’s Health Care Woes

By Patricia Miller

…lity that transcends the actual issues in question. The country faced a similar dilemma in the 1890s over vexing questions of economic policy. At the time, like a political version of “Freaky Friday,” the personalities of the two major political parties were reversed, Under the leadership of Grover Cleveland, the “Bourbon” Democrats were the party of big business, small government and states’ rights. The Republicans were just emerging from the pol…

Not a ‘Weenie-A** Lodge’: James Ray Trial Begins

By Johnny P. Flynn

…. Prosecutor Polk noted that the three who died suffered from heat related illnesses and organ failure due both to the extreme temperature and Ray’s failure to respond to those who became concerned about those who had passed out or were suffering obvious stress. Just after the tragedy Melinda Martin, a former employee of Ray’s, told ABC news that the scene was so chaotic that EMT’s thought at first they had arrived at a more ominous event. “There…

Welcome to the Shari’ah Conspiracy Theory Industry

By Sarah Posner

…“radical Islam” is tied to Nazism, and that it is locked in a clash of civilizations with the West. The film, said Moline, “draws broad conclusions about a billion people without having a consultant with credentials in that community.” The Third Jihad expanded on Obsession by making the claim that radical Islamists had infiltrated the United States with the aim of instituting shari’ah law. On its website, the Clarion Fund claims, among other thin…

Yet Another Survey Shows ‘Nones’ Growth at Record Levels

By Elizabeth Drescher

…spirituality, meaning-making, and self-realization in my Nones Beyond the Numbers narrative survey.* *The survey results will contribute to three intertwined research projects I am currently conducting on the meaning-making practices of Nones. The first, sponsored in part through the Social Science Research Council’s “New Directions in the Study of Prayer” initiative, will explore the plurality of Nones who say they regularly engage in prayer….