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Romania’s “Witch Tax”: Magic Meets Bureaucracy

By Joseph Laycock

…ommunism, witchcraft was officially banned. However, in the 1960s Elena Ceausescu (the wife of dictator Nicolae Ceausesecu) is said to have retained a witch known as Mama Omida or “Mother Caterpillar.” Mama Omida died in 1967 but is remembered as one of the most famous and powerful witches of Romania. Her daughter, Rodica Gheorge, is now among the most popular and wealthy witches in the country. She also has a blog featuring testimonials for her c…

How Will We Teach About Sikhism After the Tragedy?

By Laurie Patton

…in religious and educational approaches to the world. Long-term alliances between religious institutions, and the mutual engagement between different forms of expertise, are essential to this paradigm. Steven Prothero rightly has pointed out the profound religious illiteracy of most American citizens, and has called for an educational curriculum that includes the study of religion as a prerequisite for 21st-century citizenship. Even more importan…

Day of (Anti-Bullying) Silence Shows “Pro-Family” Activists to be Anti-Gay Bullies

By Julie Ingersoll

…ns of opinion at a public school during non-instructional time: the breaks between classes, before and after the school day, lunchtime, and any other free times during your day.” In a document [pdf], entitled “Tips for the Last Minute Organizer of Those Whose Administrators Said ‘No,’” students are explicitly told that if a teacher asks them to speak they “do NOT have a right to remain silent during class time.” In schools where permission is deni…

When Religion is a Refuge for Scoundrels: ‘Ryan Budget’ Edition

By Daniel C. Maguire

…Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical, titled Charity in Truth, which criticized free market fundamentalism.” That encyclical included clear and direct criticism of the free-market fundamentalism at the heart of attempts to dismantle financial reform: The conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from ‘influences’ of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way. In the long t…

The Higher the Dome, The Closer to God: “Megachurches” Explores the Arid Architecture of America’s New Sanctuaries

By Anita Little

…prosperity gospel and how it started. The book talks about how, in earlier times, all agency was relegated to the divine. You can’t do anything on your own, everything is up to God’s will. But in the prosperity gospel, the agency starts with the individual. The prosperity gospel focuses on bettering yourself and harnessing the power of the divine in order to reap benefits on earth. A lot of the churches referenced in this book are megachurches. T…

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ramadan

By Haroon Moghul

…ss nausea and more plot.) Everyone from Bengalis to Bosnians, basically. Nausea is, well, nausea. The combined term describes what happens when the person next to you in congregational prayers keeps burping up the bad decision that was his iftar (her iftar?—ew), making you feel gross and vomity. (It’s especially bad if you can tell what exactly he ate, and—oh God, the horror—in what order. Hint: Whatever you smell, work backwards chronologically.)…

ACLU and Thomas More Law Center Rush to Terry Jones Defense

By Lauri Lebo

…was locked up, not because he was suspected of committing a crime, but because he refused to promise that he wouldn’t go near the mosque. (Hey Wayne County, thought crime, much?) The ACLU submitted an amicus curiae brief to the 19th District Court in defense of Jones’ right to protest, which says, “If the First Amendment has any meaning, it is that the government cannot suppress the free speech because it — or anyone else — disagrees with the spee…

Rubio’s Awkward Balancing Act Between Evangelicals and Catholics

By Patricia Miller

…n Iowa, where, as Sarah Posner notes here in RD, evangelicals seem divided between the hard-core Christian nationalism of Ted Cruz and Rubio’s kinder, gentler approach that focuses on his “personal relationship with Jesus.” Writing in RNS, Jonathan Merritt says that while the ad is a “mishmash of religious beliefs and Bible verses,” he finds it “surprisingly cogent.” But the ad strikes me as an awkward—if wishful—amalgamation of evangelical, and E…

The Myth of the ‘Lone Wolf’ Shooter Blinds Us to the Reality of White Supremacy

By Ivan Strenski

…rity for those seeking to protect the innocent against the exploitation of freedom of speech. Unlike the free speech orator holding forth on their soap box in Times Square, those networked on social media enjoy a robust social existence, despite never even “meeting’ on FaceTime. They just don’t launch a random lone opinion or two, they publish and distribute information worldwide at the touch of a key. They exchange, interact and communicate with…

Palin Bus Tour Like Gideon’s Fleece

By Anthea Butler

…of evangelists like Oral Roberts and other small time gospel preachers who used the summer to set up their tents across America, traveling in buses and spreading the “good news.” Palin’s bus tour takes that strategy up a notch: it is the “Where’s Waldo” evangelical-political tour bus, touting the “good news” of Palin and her commitment to the “Fundamental Restoration of America.” The reward for those with the stamina to chase her down: a photo opp…