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Neuroscience Says Evil is “Over”: Not So Fast…

…ion or function of the brain, it must not be real. The article points to a number of ways neuropsychology has been overinterpreted and oversold. Rosenbaum addresses the fetishizing of fMRI images, the ideology that conflates causation and correlation, and the shifting semantics — evil recast as “non-empathy” by one esteemed psychologist (echoing, interestingly, the traditional Christian understanding of evil as a privation). But it’s the image of…

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New Study Touts Success of “Praying Away the Gay”

…98 highly-motivated subjects, the authors found that a small, unspecified number can use prayer and counseling to shut down their sexual feelings or become a bit more bi. And possibly none who turned straight.” Even the researchers call their conclusions “overly optimistic.” “These results do not prove that categorical change in sexual orientation is possible for everyone or anyone, but rather that meaningful shifts along a continuum that constit…

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The New Age Fantasy of a Celtic Church that Revered Nature and the Divine Feminine Never Existed — So What?

…coast of Scotland. Iona is the veritable navel of Celtic Christianity. Rocky-shored with low green hills clustered in its small interior, the Isle of Iona was where the Irish Abbot St. Columba established his monastery in the sixth-century, a community intended for monks who would produce illuminated manuscripts in their scriptorium by the rhythm of the daily liturgy, living a life of prayer and contemplation before being buried beneath the numer…

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“Pregnancy is Not a Disease”: Birth of an Anti-Contraception Rallying Cry

…sm would try to trick us into believing that pregnancy is dangerous and yucky, best avoided. But no! We will not be ashamed. Pregnancy (a condition that only biologically-female people undergo) is not a disease (and diseases are bad). Wow. That so nearly cancels out to “Women are good.” Hooray! In this respect, the phrase “Pregnancy is not a disease” also fits well with a certain spirit of the times. Now, let me say here that I know plenty of wome…

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Picasso’s Sacred Monster Eats Chicago: A Mystery Solved?

…tive interpretation. Multiply ambiguous, it is a strange concoction of any number of animal and human forms, as well as a sphinx; itself a hybrid monster. Moreover, the Chicago Picasso intimates both the Egyptian and Greek sphinxes—an amalgam of cultural styles. An ambiguous, almost inscrutable object, it is an enigmatic icon and the icon of an enigma; its very presence confronts the populace with a riddle. The riddle is not simply what the Chicag…

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Ex-Gay Conversion Therapy: Choosing Religion Over Sex

…ving those relationships may be a good and worthy goal, and I spoke with a number of ex-gay men who spoke of the gifts that pursuing their heterosexual marital relationships gave. But this is not a change in sexual orientation; it is making one particular heterosexual relationship work. Homo-Intimacy The other element in Wyler’s story, one that is common in many ex-gay change narratives, is the centrality of male intimacy in the process of orienta…

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Change v. Change at NPR

…ebate but it is between the mental health establishment and a much smaller number of traditionally minded religious therapists. However, even if Spiegel had correctly identified the nature and participants in the debate, she still would not have gotten it quite right. To his credit, Schumacher-Matos does a better job when he reviews material given to him by Spiegel and her editor Anne Gudenkauf. Among other things, Schumacher-Matos read an article…

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From Licking Floors to Praying for an Inept Government, Churches React to C-19

…ciety, among the most physically intimate, and likely include the greatest number of vulnerable people. Even single members of large congregations can have a dramatic effect on how coronavirus spreads or doesn’t, as South Korea found out the hard way. While many aren’t meeting at all or are streaming services, some churches that do meet feel like they need to support those who need it, in worship or otherwise. My mother’s congregation in Madison,…

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The Year of the Abusive Priest

…court allows sexual abuse lawsuits against the Vatican in Oregon and Kentucky to proceed. So whatever sentiment Pope Benedict was attempting to convey in his Palm Sunday homily, he succeeded in showing a profound insensitivity at a time of public moral outrage. By saying that the revelation of fact is gossip, he is accusing the press and media outlets of insufficient morality to judge the church. Unfortunately for the church, there are laws for ea…

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Protesters in Washington DC, the day before the January 6 insurrection, wrapped in American flags blow shofars.

Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind

…of barbarism… May God Bless Israel.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMVs7akyMh0 The widespread assumption that Netanyahu’s religious rhetoric is a cynical appeal to his right-wing base isn’t incorrect, but it isn’t the only explanation—and it may not even be the primary one. The success of his military campaign (and perhaps his political future), depends on Netanyahu framing the conflict (and Israel’s place in it) in such a way that it garners po…

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