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By Michael Dirda
By Bill Boyarsky $17.79
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By Stuart Whatley — There are now warnings emanating from some circles that Muslim leaders are seeking gateways through which to implement an “Islamification” of American politics and society.
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 abcnews.go.com
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Author and vampire enthusiast Anne Rice raised more than a few gothy eyebrows a few years ago with the revelation that she had become a practicing Christian. Well, that’s changed now.
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 Flickr / PrincessAshley (CC-BY-ND)
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It is officially not safe to put Mickey Mouse’s head on Jesus’ body if you live in Russia. A Russian court has fined the creators of a museum show more than $11,000 on the grounds they incited hatred.
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 Truthdig collage based on a White House photo by Pete Souza
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By Chris Hedges — Tens of millions of Americans are creating a theocratic state based on “biblical law,” and shutting out all those they define as the enemy.
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Can traditional Christianity survive the assault of its critics? Has it really been misunderstood and slandered by its cultural despisers?
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 usafa.af.mil
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“God Is Not Great” author Christopher Hitchens got a feel for the evangelical climate at the Air Force Academy in May and came away with some troubling questions. In a column headlined “In Defense of Foxhole Atheists,” he asks: “Is there a clique within the United States military that is seeking to use the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as an opportunity to mount a new crusade and to Christianize the ‘heathen’?”
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 Composite: Wikimedia Commons / Rursus / Oren neu dag
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According to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, Americans are getting more creative with their choice of religion—or choices, as the case may be. They’re picking and choosing from various world religions and using the Internet to learn about different faiths.
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 amazon.com
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Turns out that being married to Russian literary giant Leo Tolstoy wasn’t always a recipe for a good time. Sure, there was the excitement of helping him realize his loftiest artistic ambitions, but Sofia Tolstoy, wife of 48 years and mother of the author’s 13 children, eventually discovered that she would lose her husband to his religious convictions before losing him for good.
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 usatoday.com
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Drawing God is an age-old challenge, but ultra-quirky illustrator R. Crumb was up for it—although it took a lot of white-out to do the job, which seems fitting somehow. Crumb tackled the first 50 chapters of the Old Testament in his latest creation, simply titled “The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb,” and lo, it is good.
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 Flickr / midiman
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A group of conservatives is working on “a thought-for-thought translation” of the Bible “without corruption by liberal bias.” Yes, that Bible. The organization seeks to create a document that, among other things, is “Not Emasculated,” that “Express[es] Free Market Parables” and that favors “conciseness [over] the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio.” That Jesus was such a wordy socialist.
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President Obama released a video greeting Friday to Muslims in America and abroad to commemorate the start on Saturday of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and reflection for members of the Islamic faith.
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 AP / Dawn Villella
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The largest Lutheran organization in the U.S., the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, voted Friday to bring gay and lesbian clergy members into its fold—provided they are in committed relationships—signaling another seismic shift in the American Protestant scene this year.
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 blackartstudio.com
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By Gbemisola Olujobi — How did an Austrian girl who was born into a Christian family end up as high priestess of a Yoruba goddess in Nigeria? Suzanne Wenger’s life demonstrates that people are just people after all, that is, when they put aside race, values, beliefs and the other things that divide us.
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 AP photo / Alessandra Tarantino
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By Robert Fisk — Now a lot of folk will go along with the line that the Holy Father is so stupid—so utterly out of touch with Planet Earth—that he has no idea how disastrously his actions are received. Hmmm. Well, I wonder.
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 wikimedia.org
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A lawsuit tinged with questions of free speech and separation of church and state ended when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Summum religious group’s attempts to install a marker of its own in a Utah park that already has a Ten Commandments monument.
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 Flickr / ronnie44052
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The Paris Hilton of conservative politics is back and more preposterous than ever. Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is headed to the Middle East to report on the war in Gaza for Pajamas Media. But isn’t that dangerous? Not to worry, says Joe: “Being a Christian I’m pretty well protected by God, I believe.”
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 pbs.org
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A new study looking at virginity pledges—promises made by teenagers to wait until marriage for sex—has found that such vows largely fell flaccid, as sexual behavior of pledged teens was little different than non-pledgers, and that, hilariously, a whopping 82 percent, five years later, had either forgotten or denied taking the pledge.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — On this consumer holiday, let us recognize those whose satisfaction comes not from accumulating material goods or political power: The relief workers and community builders lending their energy to the poorest people in villages and urban slums scattered around the globe.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — By inviting Pastor Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation, President-elect Barack Obama has alienated some of his friends on the left, but the choice also enrages conservatives who fear the breakup of right-wing dominance in the white evangelical community.
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By David Sirota — A month after Barack Obama’s triumphant victory, we are still celebrating America’s only authentic national religion, and it isn’t Christianity—it’s presidentialism.
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Not only did Bill O’Reilly play a big part in constructing the notion of an ongoing culture war in America, but he’s determined to be the No. 1 embedded reporter on its front lines. Here, he talks to Newt Gingrich about the recent anti-Proposition 8 demonstrations around the U.S.
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 AP photo / Gerald Herbert
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By Chris Hedges — It is no longer our economy but our democracy that is in peril. Financial collapses lead to political extremism. The rage bubbling up from our impoverished and disenfranchised working class, glimpsed at John McCain rallies, presages a looming and dangerous right-wing backlash.
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 AP photo / Al Grillo
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By Chris Hedges — Sarah Palin may be a governor and a vice presidential candidate, but in the hyper-masculine world of the Christian right, she is subservient to a male hierarchy that claims to speak for God.
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By The Rev. Madison Shockley — Missing from the media hullabaloo surrounding the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright Jr.‘s now-infamous sermon (a particular sample of which is still playing in heavy rotation on countless broadcast stations) were some key contextual details about Wright’s church, black Christianity and Barack Obama’s personal history.
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 churchtimes.co.uk
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Following a heated debate, the British House of Lords approved an amendment that does away with the UK’s long-standing common law against blasphemy—a watershed moment that some believe was too long in coming.
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 pastorandpeople.wordpress.com
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There’s been plenty of innuendo and chatter about Barack Obama’s religious affiliation and beliefs lately, but both Obama and rival Hillary Clinton have described their faith with little room for extrapolation in recent months. Here’s what they had to say.
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 AP photo / Carlos Osorio
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By Chris Hedges — Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are the three stooges of the Christian right. These self-described former Muslim terrorists are regularly trotted out at Christian colleges—a few days ago they were at the Air Force Academy—to spew racist filth about Islam on behalf of groups such as Focus on the Family. It is a clever tactic.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Hope is an overused word and an underrated virtue. We “hope” for all kinds of things, from the trivial to the profound. But hope is both a habit and a discipline. It is an orientation toward the future based on the conviction that we live in an ultimately trustworthy universe.
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Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals why he kept a lid on his “profound” religious faith while in office: “You talk about [faith] in our system and, frankly, people do think you’re a nutter.”
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 usafa.af.mil
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By David Antoon — Retired Air Force Col. David Antoon investigates the evangelical Christian takeover of the military, where proselytizing has become institutionalized and religious ideology threatens to supersede the values of the Constitution.
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By Chris Hedges — In his book “Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia,” John Gray warns that as the era of liberal intervention in international affairs wanes, it is being replaced with “primitive versions of religion” that will be used to fuel apocalyptic violence.
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Chris Hedges’ Truthdig column, which normally appears on Monday, will be posted on Wednesday this week. Chris is busy preparing for his debate with Sam Harris on Tuesday at UCLA’s Royce Hall, where he will present his companion essay, “I Don’t Believe in Atheists.” If you can’t make it or you just can’t wait, here is a preview of the column.
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Bill Maher celebrates the passing of an intolerant icon: “Now I know you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but I think we can make an exception, because speaking ill of the dead was kind of Jerry Falwell’s hobby.”
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 AP Photo / Evan Vucci
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By Chris Hedges — When it comes to abortion, the Christian right presents a false choice between self-condemnation and a life of struggle. Until the impoverished and imperiled, so frequently driven into the arms of demagogues, are truly cared for, the freedom of all women will be at risk.
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AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
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By Chris Hedges — The author of “American Fascists” reports on the cult-like recruiting tactics of the Christian right, including the manipulative and highly successful practice of “love bombing.”
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 jesusrodeadonkey-thebook.com
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Linda Seger explains why Jesus’ teachings have more in common with Democrats than Republicans, how Christians have been manipulated into compromising their values and what the Bible really says about homosexuality.
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 www.jesusrodeadonkey-thebook.com
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Linda Seger explains why Jesus had more in common with Democrats than Republicans, how Christians have been manipulated into compromising their values and what the bible really says about homosexuality.
Posted on Apr 10, 2007
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 AP Photo / HO / The Bohle Co.
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By Chris Hedges — The author of “American Fascists” explores the Christian right’s obsession with Armageddon and the self-fulfilling holocaust it will produce.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Easter is as good a time as any to delve into the issues raised by faith and reason. In this essay, E.J. Dionne challenges the arguments of “neo-atheism.” For an alternative point of view, read “An Atheist Manifesto” by Sam Harris.
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The story goes like this: One day Jesus will come and take his favorite Christians to heaven, leaving the rest to fend off the Antichrist. It’s called the rapture, and 20 percent of Christians in America believe it is imminent. That’s far too many for a group of moderate Christians and theologians who want to reclaim Sunday school.
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 soulforce.org
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By Chris Hedges — Gays are the first target of the Christian right’s campaign against human rights, but they won’t be the last.
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