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Sit Down and Shut Up: Pulling Mindfulness Up By Its (Buddhist) Roots

By Max Zahn

…t are called Buddhism’s three jewels; the other two are the Buddha and the sangha, or monastic community. As such, mindfulness makes up a small segment of the immense ethical, philosophical, institutional and ritual latticework that constitutes the totality of Buddhist practices, which themselves vary widely from place to place and era to era. The modern emphasis on mindfulness and meditation is a fairly recent phenomenon. Historian Eric Braun not…

The Journalist and the Bishops: CNS Editor Fired For Tweeting Opposition to LGBT Discrimination

By Patricia Miller

…-transgender bathroom policies as “harmful and deceptive gender ideology.” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone joked last year that he was sure more transgender identities “will be invented as time goes on” and said the acceptance of “gender ideology” threatens not only the faith, but the very foundation of human society, predicting “a reversion to the paganism of old, but with unique, postmodern variations on its themes, such as the pra…

Female Deacons: Pope Francis Walks It Back, Women Clergy Weigh In

By Kaya Oakes

…f a Roman Catholic woman. Last year, Father Jack McClure was sanctioned by San Francisco Archbishop Cordelione and prevented from saying mass for appearing at a women’s ordination gathering. Any Roman Catholic woman who pursues ordination in an independent Catholic Church (not considered to be in communion with Roman Catholic Church) is considered automatically excommunicated for breaking church law; members of the Roman Catholic Women Priests, wh…

Times‘ Cutesy Guide Veils Humanity of Muslim Women

By Mariam Durrani

…ewsworthiness, you’ll find a peculiar section called: “What in the World.” Sandwiched between articles on cows belching in India and a cutesy rumination on nicknames for Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, you’ll find an article about what to call that thing on a woman’s head in various Muslim countries. “What’s That You’re Wearing? A Guide to Muslim Veils,” includes a .gif with seven repeating images of faceless bodies wearing “veils for Muslim…

Is ISIS A Sign of the End Times? It May Only Matter That They Believe So

By Haroon Moghul

…n. The Muslim ummah will be weak and divided, though nearly uncountable in number. In the darkest hour, a Mahdi—a ‘rightly-guided’ descendant of Muhammad—will be identified at Mecca’s Great Mosque. He will rally Muslims against oppression without and within, but his success will provoke a bloodier counter-reaction, led by the ‘False Messiah,’ the anti-Christ. When even the Mahdi will be unable to turn the tide, then Jesus, Islam’s actual Messiah,…

How Merle Haggard Saved My Soul

By Daniel Schultz

…ucted song when he heard one, and a kindred rebel soul. As Haggard’s music sank in over the years, I learned too about being unapologetic for a humble background, or an unpopular opinion. He made it possible to embrace the artist-as-crank, and for that I will always be grateful. Everybody talks about Haggard’s integrity. He called it like he saw it—even when he later came to regret it, as with 1969’s anti-hippie anthem, “Okie From Muskogee,” a son…

Satanic Temple Protests Pseudoscientific Therapies for Satanic Abuse and Witchcraft

By Joseph Laycock

If you happened to walk past San Francisco’s Parc 55 hotel this past weekend, you would have seen a most unusual sight: Two women bound on the sidewalk in chains as Satanists cover them in ashes and recited from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. While this sounds like a scene of “Satanic Ritual Abuse,” it was actually a street performance organized by The Satanic Temple to protest the annual conference of the International Society for the St…

Zen and the Art of Zombie Killing: A Buddhist Anti-Tech Manifesto

By Max Zahn

…ddhist Geeks that examines the intersection of Buddhism and technology. “Insanity is directly proportional to the number of hours spent at a tech startup.” In Horn’s view, techies turn to Buddhism, especially the practice of mindfulness, because it calms them down. Simple as that. Tech isn’t any old community—it’s an industry, divided like any other into managers and employees. It is management that has taken up mindfulness as a tool for fostering…

How to Die in America: A Conversation with Ann Neumann

By Ellie Faustino

…speaking about The Good Death at the following events this month: Mar 22 – San Francisco, CA: Booksmith, 7:30 pm. A reading with an introduction by Katy Butler, author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Details. Mar 24 – Portland, OR: Powell’s Books, 7:30 pm. Introduction by Peg Sandeen, PhD, MSW, Executive Director of Death with Dignity. Details. Mar 29 – Los Angeles, CA: Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and The Center for Health Jour…

Mexico’s Religious Conservatives Seek Anti-LGBT Constitutional Amendment, LGBT Activists Defend Secular Government; Cash From Qatar Funds ‘Traditional’ Family Activism Worldwide; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…topped,” he added. …In the release he said it could not be ignored that “a number of individuals, international groups and governments are exerting pressure on our communities to accept sexual practices that have not been previously accepted in most Caribbean communities”. … Although the PPM government has made it very clear it has no policy plans to introduce gay marriage or any kind of legal protection for same-sex couples, the fear that it migh…