The Evolution of Religion, According to Darwin
“Today we’d probably call Darwin something of a seeker. You might say he’s something of a proto-None.”
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Books
Sin is Not a Crime: A Conversation with Patrick Cheng
“For me, as a queer person of color and an Asian American who is also gay, I often feel like I’m never able to bring the two together, I’m always forced to choose. Will I be Asian American today or gay today? In the LGBT community, even where I feel really safe, I rarely hear anything that affirms my cultural background or the racism of notions of beauty in the community.”
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What Makes a Human Bomb Tick?
Western experts, looking for a comprehensible narrative, mistake consistency for fact. The misconceptions are further compounded by how difficult it is to identify a potential suicide—even mental health professionals can get it wrong—and how easy it is to conflate suicide terrorists with regular terrorists, the vast majority of whom don’t strap on bombs, preferring to stay alive and fight.
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A Report from America’s “Sacrifice Zones”
“I wanted to write a book that looked at what happened when you forced individuals and communities, as well as the environment, to kneel before the dictates of the marketplace. The best way to do this was to go to the nation’s sacrifice zones, those poorest pockets of the country that had been exploited first, to show what happens when you allow the marketplace to rule.”
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Virgins and Vampire Worship: The Religion of Twilight
The plot of Twilight: a young woman—clumsy and plain—is deeply and unconditionally loved and protected by an all-powerful, omnipotent being whose love makes her special. For a moment, Twi-hards let themselves believe, however crazy it sounds, that they too could be irresistibly beautiful one day, loved by an ideal God-man who sees them, really sees them.
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An Agnostic Biography of the Prophet Muhammad
“The First Muslim isn’t a “message” book. If anything, since I’m agnostic, you might call it an agnostic biography. But I think many readers may be surprised at Muhammad’s deep commitment to social justice, his radical protest against greed and corruption, and his impassioned engagement with the idea of unity, both human and divine—major factors that help explain the appeal of Islam.”
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A Dismayed Democrat Reads the Bible
Part of the scandal of American Christianity is that statistically the U.S. is the most Christian country in the world, and yet as a country we have the greatest income inequality in the world. And as a country we are uncritically committed not simply to being the most powerful nation in the world militarily, but to being as militarily powerful as the rest of the world combined.
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From Closeted Evangelical to Unapologetic Atheist: A “Faitheist” Manifesto
Dialogue between atheists and the religious is an absolute minefield. I can promise you there are no kumbaya drum circles in this book—if that’s your thing, great, but it isn’t mine, and it doesn’t have to be your thing to get involved in efforts that promote religious pluralism.
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The Real Reason For “Vagina-gate”
The Souther Baptist Convention’s Lifeway Christian Resources refused to stock Rachel Held Evans’ book ostensibly because it contains the word “vagina.” Or is it that a female writer will only be acceptable if she recites SBC rhetoric, fully supports SBC leaders, and knows her place at home and at church?
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Preaching to the ‘Moveable Middle’: Bishop Gene Robinson on Marriage Equality and the Election
In the book, Gene Robinson tackles questions like why marriage is an issue for LGBT people, why straight people should support it and why civil unions, while they are a good first step, simply won’t be enough to satisfy the LGBT community.
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