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

By Murali Balaji

…and ambiguous—and often contradictory. Religious conflicts are often intertwined with politics, and the frequency of intra-religious conflict (Sunni versus Shiite Muslims, Jat versus non-Jat Sikhs, upper-caste Christians versus Dalit Christians) has also played a role in India’s recent spike in social unrest. Despite the complex nature of identity politics in India, one thing is more apparent: the unease with which Indians of all faiths are dealin…

Can the Catholic Church Survive Trump?

By Patricia Miller

…it comes to deciding whom to vote for … Catholic bishops encouraged their flock to side with the Republican Party. Unlike some evangelicals, however, the Catholic bishops did manage to maintain some semblance of a cross-party policy agenda because of the church’s progressive positions on the death penalty, refugees and immigrants, social welfare programs, and its preference for peace over war. Over time, however, as the Reagan-era GOP coalition f…

Are You There God? It’s Us, Googling

By Michael Schulson

…ults and stake out authoritative-sounding positions, regardless of their influence offline. You can see this, for example, in the world of online Judaica, where two organizations—Aish HaTorah and, especially, the Chabad Lubavitch movement—have developed enormous, accessible websites offering answers on everything from gefilte fish recipes to evolution. In the context of American Judaism, both organizations are unusual: Chabad is a messianic Hasidi…

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

By Peter Montgomery

…our strategies that participants use to negotiate the dissonance of living with conflicting identities in a context of religious homophobia: (1) privileging their Islamic identities and rejecting homosexuality as a legitimate sexual identity; (2) rejecting Islam and accepting homosexuality as a legitimate sexual identity; (3) interpreting Islam to be supportive of homosexuality; and (4) creating a non-penetrative homosexuality to be compatible wit…

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

By Lewis Wallace

…n in order to have enough bathroom space, but it was quickly blown over by winter winds. Asked if she is happy about the developments, Tipps laughs. “We’re kind of being a little bit selfish because we’re like oh, gosh, we don’t really want all these people,” she says. “But it’s a good thing for the Blessed Mother.” Tipps’ beliefs tie her to a centuries-old tradition of folk Catholicism driven by local traditions, an aspect of the religion that th…

Newsweek’s Strange Faces of the Christian Right List

By Sarah Posner

…apparently evolving so much that it includes people who aren’t associated with the Christian right. Ten is a pretty small number to best represent a movement Newsweek describes as “changing and growing more diffuse, even as it remains a potent force in American politics.” While some of the picks seem obvious (Marjorie Dannenfelser of the anti-choice group Susan B. Anthony List, or Jim Daly, the new head of Focus on the Family, or Robert George ma…

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

By Johnny P. Flynn

…sweat lodge and by the end of the ordeal two were dead, one more would die without recovering consciousness, and fifteen were reported to be suffering ill effects. In spite of the number of people who experienced difficulties during each of the eight fifteen-minute rounds, Ray contends he did not know that there were problems. In fact, Ray is accused of ignoring the pleas of those who wanted out; in one case an individual went out through the side…

Welcome to the Shari’ah Conspiracy Theory Industry

By Sarah Posner

…the supposed threat of radical Islam, also runs Campus Watch, which, along with David Horowitz’s “Freedom Center” and related groups, claim to monitor the supposedly anti-American sympathies of academics who don’t share their views. (Horowitz was also the organizer of “Islamofascism Awareness Week” events on college campuses, which were not about “freedom” but rather portraying those who don’t share Horowitz’s worldview as un-American.) Other play…

Yet Another Survey Shows ‘Nones’ Growth at Record Levels

By Elizabeth Drescher

…cans believe in God without any doubt,” adding that, “Atheism is barely growing,” with 1% in 1962 and 3% in 2012 indicating no belief in God. The report raises important questions about the relationship between religious affiliation, religious identity, and religiosity in general in the United States that may be addressed in future work by Hout and Fischer on generational and political factors in affiliation, perhaps more particularly, and by Chav…

Sovereign Grace Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Just Got More Complicated

By T.F. Charlton

…questions about Mahaney’s potential complicity—a stance that sits uneasily with their claims that they “side with the victims” in cases of abuse and “are not in a place to adjudicate all of the charges leveled against [SGM] or…specific individuals.” Instead they have vocally defended their friend as a “vast influence for good” who has produced a “fruitful ministry of the gospel over many decades.” Dever recently told Mahaney’s new congregation in…