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Why Bill Maher Gets a “C” in My Introduction to Religion Class…

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…belief-oriented versions of religion offered by my C-grade student named Bill. Bill gets this low grade because his definition of religion appears to have been culled solely from Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary in which religion is essentially defined, in solid US-Protestant style, along the lines of a set of beliefs in God. (To give credit where credit is due, the problem also lies with the director Larry Charles and whatever half-baked…

Our Lady of Good Hope and Excellent Behavior: Why this Apparition and Why Now?

By Lisa Bitel

…ion by joining other denominations or leaving Christianity altogether. The number of priests and nuns was at an all-time low even before the recent sexual scandals, and the number of self-identified Catholics world-wide keeps declining. Many of those who remain in the Church ignore standard doctrines and believe what they want. How many Catholics disobey Church rules? About as many as the angels dancing on a pinhead. Believers know that Jesus prom…

Gay Marriage Supporters Rally People of Faith for Washington’s November Vote

By Nicole Neroulias

…nged genders as an adult. “We would like to get married, but the only way we can right now is if I change my gender, and I’m not throwing a bouquet,” he said, with a chuckle. His fiancée, an Episcopal vicar, made an “It Gets Better” video: But will it? If Referendum 74 passes, their state will become the first to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote. Washington United for Marriage has phone banks scheduled until November, with at least four m…

The Pope in My Pocket; We Are All Dilettantes Now

By Michael A. Elliott

…up on cable television or the world wide web. What is distinct about the iPhone and similar devices is they that they will allow us to dabble in a variety of faith traditions—to test the waters without committing a large investment of time or money, and without risk of public exposure. Thanks to the interactivity available in a smartphone application, we can all become religious dilettantes. A Pew Forum study published last year found that half o…

Behind a Recent Stunt in Idaho Lies a Dangerous Theocratic Movement

By Chrissy Stroop

…presentative, leads this initiative, and in January 2020 she introduced a bill with the Orwellian title of “Idaho Abortion Human Rights Act.” Although the bill has no realistic prospects for passing, simply arguing in the state legislature that abortion doctors and those who have abortions should be tried for murder pushes the Overton window to the right and can inspire violence. The video of the church service, which Remington closed in prayer, f…

Spiritual McCarthyism and the Catholic Vote

By Bill Berkowitz

…s—about 47 million potential voters—stick with their current party, Obama will have an 8 million vote edge over McCain. The same study found that “a majority” of Catholic voters aren’t affiliated with either political party, which leaves approximately 19.5 million voters to be courted. CARA also found that Catholic voters’ attitudes had shifted dramatically on issues such as the use of military force and tax increases for the wealthiest Americans,…

Google’s Benevolent Interfaith Big Tent

By Lucia Hulsether

…aring the story, she returns home, opens Google India, and tracks down the phone number for the sweet shop her grandfather mentioned. Within seconds, she has called the store on her smart phone, and Yusuf’s grandson—who answers—has likewise opened Google to research visas for a reunion too long denied. We can understand the implications of this storyline by putting it into conversation with its longer historical context. The logic of the plot—that…

How Muslim Civic Activism Helped Pass California’s Prop 47

By Nick Street

…r pledge cards and enlist volunteers to canvass potential voters and staff phone banks. He said that the positive responses to his phone pitch for Prop 47 were an unexpected surprise. “It’s been amazing to see how many people were supporting this,” Hakim said. “There are more people that think about justice than I realized!” The momentum for collaborative Muslim faith-based activism around Prop 47 began to build earlier this year, when Jawaid and…

Exclusive: Columnist Jonathan Merritt on his Sudden Departure From Religion News Service

By Kaya Oakes

…“people really began to take notice” of his blog, and it soon became RNS’ “number one traffic generator,” and remained so for the duration of Merritt’s time writing at the site. Problems began to arise in 2017, still during Socolovsky’s tenure as editor, when Merritt began to notice missing payments. Earlier this year, Merritt asked to talk to Gallagher, who told him that he was out of contract and would need to be issued a new one. But Merritt be…

Sex, Violence, Art, and Religion

By Kent L. Brintnall

…in mind. I can name the people who were my imagined audience. I have their numbers in my cell phone. There are, of course, lots of other people I would invite to eavesdrop on this solipsistic soliloquy. I’d like Bataille scholars to read the book. I’d like people who’ve never heard of Bataille to read the book. I’d like feminist and queer theologians—and those scholars who study queer theory—to read it. And if a serious scholar of Bacon’s or Mappl…