A Portrait of Islamophobia?
On December 5th the New York Times published an editorial on its front page for the…
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Is It the Job of Religion Journalists to Define “Religion”?
Weighing in on historian Damon Linker’s suggestion that the Times’ Mark Oppenheimer has just written himself out of a job.
Read MoreSpringtime for Ross Douthat?
Ross Douthat’s latest column offers proof of Godwin’s law in the headline—and goes downhill from there. And the headline…
Read MoreWhat the Surveys Don’t (And Can’t) Say About the Rise of the “Spiritual But Not Religious”
It all begins with “survey says….” But it doesn’t end there.
Read More“I’m a Creationist,” Says Former Times Tech Writer, Heffernan
Don’t worry, it’s mostly aesthetic.
Read MoreBush Era to Blame for Renewed Interest in Mainline?
From the Transcendentalists to Alcoholics Anonymous, yoga and “the gospel of Oprah.”
Read MoreMeet the New LDS Face of Immigration Politics
Goodbye, Russell Pearce. Hello, Raul Labrador.
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Beloved Immortals: Science, Miracles and ‘Jellyfish Time’
A recent piece by novelist Nathaniel Rich focused on eccentric Japanese researcher Shin Kubota, who studies the “immortal jellyfish.” But what are we after when we seek immortality? And does this quest tell us more about us than the natural world?
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Do Not Have Sex with This Man
Ross Douthat wants you to have more babies. And he wants you to be married when you have those babies. And not just any babies. He wants you to have American babies—though, if you’re an immigrant, he’ll take your babies, too, because that’s really the only reason to allow immigrants to be here. And he wants you to hurry up and have those American babies, because if you don’t, we’ll run out of workers, and if we run out of workers the United States will get “knocked off its global perch.” Because that’s what’s at stake, ladies and gentlemen—American domination.
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Making Fun of Mormonism
Planets! Tablets! Underwear! When some of America’s most celebrated pundits and public intellectuals talk about Mormons, these are the images that are summoned. Ironically in this “Mormon Moment”—signaled by a hit Broadway musical, polygamous housewives on TLC, and of course two Mormon presidential candidates—Mormons, long considered quintessential “outsiders” to mainstream American culture, today find themselves at the center of the American zeitgeist. Yet it is the Mormons’ supposed theological weirdness that is the centripetal attraction.
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