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Forced Cremation of Covid Dead in Sri Lanka Further Marginalizes Muslim Community

By Andrea Malji and Amarnath Amarasingam

…is like breaking the bone of a living person—it is forbidden. Muslim scholars around the world have noted that certain practices, such as the ritual bathing of the body, can be modified during times of emergencies, including pandemics. Additionally, the number of people present at a Muslim funeral can also be reduced as long as the funeral prayer and burial occurs. Further modifications have also been adopted by Muslims, such as increased distanc…

Elephant Orphans and Ecological Spiritualities: An Earth Day Reflection

By Jacob J. Erickson

…ns, mysteries of these creatures. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. A large number of the “spiritual but not religious” crowd in the West are self-proclaimed ecologists or naturalists. A large number of atheists and agnostics are deeply passionate about ecological ethics, or how we might be more “in tune” with nature. Culturally, they become fascinated in the personalities of cats and cat videos, the companionship of dogs who offer a kind of f…

None Means None (Not Atheist, Agnostic, Unbeliever…)

By Elizabeth Drescher

…pointedly as a label for those straining to resist labels. This has been particularly the case since the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released its “‘Nones’ on the Rise” report in October and the November presidential election brought to the fore the voting patterns of the “religiously unaffiliated”—a designation some Nones also find distasteful because it makes religious participation the basis for identification rather than… rather than w…

Hell, in Rob Bell’s Own Words: State of Belief Radio

By The Editors

…. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re learning and growing, and our hearts are being transformed. So for me, I don’t actually find being controversial a noble goal. That was never the intent. I was always just interested in people meeting the resurrected Christ who I’ve met, and continue to experience over and over again. So I’ll accept that perhaps this is controversial from time to time, but it’s never been the goal. And yes, after a while…

National Review’s Kevin Williamson Comes Out Against Daughters, Misunderstands Science

By Sarah Morice-Brubaker

…beings who are unrepentant daughters and/or fallopian tube havers and/or cardigan wearers; There was a Republican president in recent memory who had two daughters; There are social conservatives in other quarters trying to be seen as the ones who care about the value of daughters. One can only assume that NRO folks ran these scenarios and determined none of them were problems worthy of their attention. (Mmkay. Noted.) Unfortunately, Williamson a…

The End (of Religion) is Near, Scientists Say

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…elf is inadequate to the task) is a hard question to answer. And it’s similarly hard to discern just what this study is inviting us to imagine. Is it that something similar is happening to Christianity, or to the three scriptural monotheisms, today? Something is clearly up (or down) with religious affiliation; how to read that data is the real question, and that calls for the art for interpretation, not mathematical modeling. That’s what makes thi…

Creeping Shari’ah… Ahem, Excuse Me… Biblical Law

By Julie Ingersoll

…ty turned to ingenious punishments for lawbreakers.” Both Rushdoony and DeMar argue that the notion that a criminal owes a debt to society rather than to his or her victim results from the rise of the “messianic state.” Recent developments in Florida, under the guise of prison reform, are promoting a civil society increasingly regulated by religious organizations and conforming to Reconstructionists’ prescription for a Biblical society; this “pris…

Marriage equality and ‘the end of Catholic Ireland’; Gambian Prez vows to slit gays’ throats; Colombian govt affirms support for marriage and adoption; global LGBT recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ents to repeal anti-LGBT laws, including so-called “propaganda” laws that “arbitrarily restrict rights to freedom of expression and assembly and threaten the work of LGBT organizations and human rights defenders.” The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) released its in-depth 2015 report on state-sponsored homophobia this week, accompanied by a map of world laws. We see the analysis of the legal situation in…

Why the Church is Struggling to Hold Onto Millennial Catholics

By Kaya Oakes

…to. So if they are increasingly choosing the liberal side in the culture wars, are they really still Catholic? Canon Law 204.1 states that a Catholic not only has to be baptized, but also “share the profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical governance” to be “considered in communion with the Church.” Canon Law 208-223 has more specific rules for acting out the obligation of the laity, but some of those rules are ambiguously stated,…

It’s Not Me, It’s You: Catholic Values Dumping Trump

By Patricia Miller

…h the exception of white, college-educated women, who have swung by a similar margin. As a result, notes Aaron Blake of the Post: “Trump is basically adding 5 to 7 percentage points to Clinton’s overall margin. If 25 percent of the electorate is Catholic, Clinton is currently taking 14 to 15 points worth of that chunk, while Trump is taking 8 or 8.5 points.” There’s been a lot of ink spilled trying to figure out the Catholic stampede away from Tru…