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What Can Ancient India Tell Us About Our World?

By Bruce Rich

…so little known in the West. That began my path to write this book. As I researched Ashoka, I realized I couldn’t understand him without understanding Kautilya, the brains behind the empire founded by his grandfather, Chandragupta. Kautilya is even less known in the West, yet in the 4th century BC wrote the first major work on economics, “Arthasastra,” literally the science of material wealth. He wrote that the underlying principle of society was…

At Launch Rally in Waco, Former President Sets the Stakes for Trump ’24 Campaign with Apocalyptic, Violent, Genocidal Rhetoric

By Annika Brockschmidt & Thomas Lecaque

…er” or the QAnon tune (which reeks of stock music one might find using the search terms “epic” and “mystical spa sounds”) as laughable; as a shrill heretical parody of what liturgy, hymns and sermons are. But it would also be short-sighted, because for those within the crowd, the music, the spectacle, the “God, Guns and Trump” signs, and the red hats may create an exhilarating, even spiritual, experience for the audience. These are all remnants of…

Why the World Needs Religious Studies

By Nathan Schneider

…can be of mutual benefit. As a journalist, I’ve found that epoché is rule number one for reporting among people different from you. Lawyers often have to do something similar. It’s a basic part of how business works. For much of history, traders, rather than scholars, have led the way to discovering foreign cultures. Christians and Muslims were trading with each other during the Crusades, and Marco Polo made it to China centuries before Matteo Ri…

The Internet is Not Killing Organized Religion

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ugh social media participation has not widely been realized. A review of research on political engagement online by Jennifer Brundidge and Ronald E. Rice, for instance, suggests that access to diverse viewpoints and richer information on the internet tends primarily to benefit those of higher socioeconomic status, allowing deeper insight into the political Other without necessarily changing minds. Internet practice among those at lower socioeconom…

HuffPo Columnist Tries to Link Darwin to Hitler

By Lauri Lebo

…aims for ourselves. (Hat tip to commenter at Pharyngula for this.) A quick search of Mein Kampf reveals not one reference to Darwin. It has one reference to natural selection, but only in the context that the revolutionary movement must not grow too fast: An organization inspired by a veritable revolutionary idea will attract into the body of its membership only the most active of those believers who have been won for it by its propaganda. It is i…

As COVID-19 Spreads, Nicaragua’s Leaders Opt For Trumpian Denial and Misinformation

By Jeannine M. Pitas

…vaccine with better government leadership. “In Costa Rica there is some research on antibodies formed by people who have suffered from the virus. More research could be happening here. There is a lot of potential in Nicaragua, particularly in our universities, that is going to waste.” In the absence of strong leadership, physicians are taking it upon themselves to alert and educate the public, even to their own professional detriment. Dr. Carlos…

Week in Religion, Sunday Edition

By Michael J. Altman

…female swim teammate. In Nebraska, police arrested a man roaming naked in search of “a religious experience.” I hope he finds it. The mosque used by the plotters of the 9/11 attack has been closed down in Hamburg, Germany. Muslims in Britain held al-Hidayah 2010, a three-day anti-terrorism camp for young people. A New Jersey school district will observe Eid al-Fitr, the day marking the end of the month of fasting, along with Eid al-Adha, the Musl…

Why ‘Respectable’ Evangelicals Can’t Rein in Evangelical Conspiracy Theorists

By Chrissy Stroop

…ntially an anti-Christian conspiracy. If you need evidence for this claim, search the #ExposeChristianSchools hashtag on Twitter for numerous examples, and read this groundbreaking report by Huffington Post education reporter Rebecca Klein, from which we can extrapolate that there are roughly 2000 non-Catholic Christian elementary and secondary schools in the United States that receive public voucher funding to teach “alternative facts.” French’s…

New Age Tragedy in Sedona: Non-Indians in the Sweat Lodge

By Johnny P. Flynn

…. Ray’s weeklong event in Sedona cost each participant more than $9,000. A search of any number of Web sites advertising these “Indian ceremonies” will turn up sweat lodges that average over $100 per event, and four-day “vision quests” going for around five hundred dollars, “all meals included” and “Visa and MasterCard accepted.” Indians all across the country are upset, saying white people stole the land, killed the buffalo, and now want to steal…

Baby Dolls, Sex Dolls, and Ritual Objects

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…her.” Nisan is known as a “2-D lover,” the designation given to a growing number of people, mostly men, within Japan’s anime-fan culture who have romantic attachments to representations of animated girls. Some images exist virtually on computer screens, some as figurines, and others like Nemutan, as pillowcases. This real-life story reminded me of the fictional 2007 film Lars and the Real Girl. The plot of that quiet, surprise-hit movie wouldn’t…