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‘Imagine Better’: Can Harry Potter Change the World?

By B. Howell Belser

…r series of children’s books—and one of the most contentious, coming in at number one on The American Library Association’s list of “Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009.” The film series, the seventh of which was released last weekend, is the highest-grossing series of all time, surpassing both Star Wars and the James Bond films—all 22 of them. Harry Potter, the story goes, is a special young man and a talented wizard, who—with a lot of mag…

Pope Denounces Gender Colonization; Indonesian Court Considers Islamist Request To Criminalize Homosexuality; Egypt’s Grand Mufti Says No One Has Right to Harm Homosexuals; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…, since behind all this there are ideologies. In Europe, America, Latin America, Africa, and in some countries of Asia, there are genuine forms of ideological colonization taking place. And one of these – I will call it clearly by its name – is [the ideology of] “gender”. Today children – children! – are taught in school that everyone can choose his or her sex. Why are they teaching this? Because the books are provided by the persons and instituti…

Is Army’s New “Humanist” Designation Just Semantic Hooey?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ations are rich, social and symbolic.” While not personal names, the categorical designations the religiously unaffiliated take on, as well as the ones they refuse, are deeply personal components of social self-identity. As such, they participate in the cultural and spiritual traditions of naming. But the addition of the Humanist designation to the list of approved faith codes has concrete implications as well. It gives Humanist service members ac…

Naked Jihad

By Kate Blanchard

…ssed to you?” or “Nudity DOES NOT liberate me and I DO NOT need saving.” A number of commenters in the group, in fact, seem to think that Femen members are the ones who are oppressed. I myself have experienced these events as something of a roller coaster ride. As someone temperamentally shy about my body, I was both horrified and impressed first by Amina’s courageous statement, and later by the Femen protesters. But I also feared for their bodil…

American Sin: Why Pope Francis’ Mercy is Not Our Mercy

By Kaya Oakes

…of languages, economic classes, ethnicities and cultures represented in American Catholic churches, American Catholics resist singularity. And it follows that they are going to be inconsistent in how they define mercy, as the hierarchy of the American church is often wont to demonstrate. Even the variety of American “Mercy Doors” found online defies comparison to the huge, ornately carved bass doors Francis pushed open at St. Peter’s when he decla…

The Progress of Christ in Commercial America: A Review of Chris Lehmann’s The Money Cult

By Peter Laarman

…tion in our politics, and (most of all) the meek resignation with which Americans simply accept this state of affairs. The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American Dream Chris Lehmann Melville House May 18, 2016 In my view, the greatest single virtue of Lehmann’s approach is his firm rejection of reductionism, his refusal to assume that Protestantism’s accommodation of the capitalist agenda has been purely reactive an…

‘Cult’ Is an Inaccurate, Unhelpful and Dangerous Label for Followers of Trump, QAnon, and 1/6

By Catherine Wessinger

…desired collective salvation. On January 6, 2021, it probably seemed to a number of participants and supporters in the Euro-American Nativist Millennial Movement that they had finally achieved the critical mass of adherents to overthrow Congress. There are many varieties of millennialism. As I wrote in The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism: “A nativist millennial movement consists of people who feel under attack by a foreign colonizing government…

Religion and Other Animals

By Paul Waldau

…elevance of these topics is reflected in the growth of the field—at the American Academy of Religion, a professional association of teachers and scholars of religion, the formal group known as the “Animals and Religion Consultation” has received growing attention, and publications dealing with religion and animals are increasing exponentially. This scholarly work emerges into a context where humans’ attitudes toward our cousin animals are more mul…

No Conspiracy Theories Needed: Abortion Foes Cry Racism

By Kathryn Joyce

…ling to work for the end of the genocide-by-abortion taking place in the African-American community.” Hoye’s fellow activists rose to the occasion, announcing via press release that a host of black pro-life leaders would descend on Oakland for the sentencing to stand in solidarity with Hoye against “a deliberate attempt to silence the Church and its prophetic role in protecting the innocent lives in our community and especially Black babies.” In a…

Evangelical Pastor Argues for Full LGBT Inclusion: “I Think It’s Inevitable”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…sion of evangelicalism which will be inclusive of LGBT people. There are a number of evangelicals that are very open to this and are having the same experience I had of actually knowing gay and lesbian people, so I think it’s inevitable. I think there will be a sector of evangelicalism that will go past mainline protestant denominations, which have more institutional restraints. The more autonomous congregations will outpace them in acceptance. Th…