AltWeeklies Wire
New Evangelicals Search for Faith, Not Lip Servicenew
The Obama campaign opened its Raleigh headquarters July 22 to much fanfare, but just around the corner the same night, their celebration was outdrawn almost 3-to-1 by Jesus. That's where a "campaign stop" of the Jesus for President book tour was led by evangelical progressives Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. The new movement represents one of the most exciting shifts among Christian evangelicals.
The Queer and the Qur'an: One Man's Struggle with Being a Gay Muslimnew
Ali stays in the shadows, because if he were to come out as a gay Muslim, he would lose things dearer to him than his own life: family, community, identity.
Willamette Week |
Byron Beck |
08-06-2008 |
LGBT
Why Was Obama's Wailing Wall Display Treated as Sacred?new
What bothers me is how we understand prayer in this culture and how that understanding enables a presidential candidate to use prayer as a political tool, as both symbol and action, when it is neither.
NOW Magazine |
Jacob Scheier |
08-04-2008 |
Commentary
Looking at the Implications of Colorado's Proposed Anti-Choice Amendmentnew
If voters pass Amendment 48 in November, the Colorado Constitution will be changed so that even a pronuclear embryo -- a single-celled, newly fertilized human egg -- will have the same rights and protections as a fully developed, living, breathing human being. The so-called "Personhood Amendment," an initiative placed on the ballot by anti-abortion extremists, would impact not only abortion, experts say, but also a broad range of issues pertaining to women's health from access to contraception to infertility treatment to the flexibility doctors have in treating pregnant women.
Boulder Weekly |
Pamela White |
08-04-2008 |
Sex
New Life Ministries' Pastor Troy Campbell Follows the Example of Jesusnew
Unlike some of the more visible evangelical houses of worship in Kansas City, New Life seems serious about closing the gap between the church described in the New Testament and what's happening in the suburbs today.
Inside Radical Living: A Communal Christian House in Bed-Stuynew
The story of Radical Living, a group of twenty- and thritysomething born-again Christians, begins with the Storbakkens. One day in the fall of 2006 Jason Storbakken was headed uptown toward his job at High Times, when a subway preacher caught his ear.
New York Press |
Joseph Huff-Hannon |
07-17-2008 |
Religion
Guillermo Del Toro's 'Hellboy II' is All About Rock-hard, Right-handed Self-pleasurenew
The movie is lax on personal expression, simply a spook-the-kids, psyche-the-hipsters carnival.
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-10-2008 |
Reviews
Thoughts on Katy Perry's 'I Kissed a Girl'new
"I Kissed a Girl" (currently the number-one single on Billboard) is a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, but if you’re not careful, it'll shatter your critical faculties.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
07-02-2008 |
Music
Porn Star Bobby Blake on Racism and Religionnew
Blake's a puzzle, writing frankly about unsavory aspects in his life, but he's also quite serious, talking about racism in the industry, gay marriage, life on the down-low and the scourge of HIV/AIDS in the black community.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Liz Spikol |
06-30-2008 |
Nonfiction
The Said Girls Made One Deadly Misstep: They Fell in Lovenew
News that a Muslim father had been accused of murdering two beautiful daughters because he disapproved of their boyfriends triggered an instantaneous and predictable reaction from non-Muslims: It had to be an "Islamic" honor killing. The truth is more complex.
Dallas Observer |
Glenna Whitley |
06-23-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Lauri Lebo Tackles Intelligent Design, Evolution, and the Medianew
After reading this book and thinking of the millions of dollars and thousands of hours squandered, the hatred, the vitriol, and the disbelief that we're still fighting this age-old battle, I just feel tired and sad. This isn't the end of the story. We'll see it again, fight the battle once more, spend the money, fire up the troops, spar with the same theory in a different cloak, attract the international media, meet at a different courthouse, pass judgment on a different school district.
The Texas Observer |
Ruth Pennebaker |
06-18-2008 |
Nonfiction
Freddy Haynes Seemed a Shoo-In to Lead the NAACP ... So What Happened?new
Haynes' commitment to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's brand of theology -- the very thing that had shaped his ministry and brought him so much success -- may have derailed his chance to lead the nation's oldest civil rights organization.
Dallas Observer |
Jesse Hyde |
06-17-2008 |
Race & Class
With a Halal Slaughter Facility, a Vermont Farmer Becomes an Unlikely Cultural Ambassadornew
Halal meat isn't easy to come by in the Green Mountains. "These people have a right to participate in their religious convictions," Arthur Meade suggests. "And there's no place in the state to do it. I allow people to practice their beliefs in clean, safe conditions. They bless the animals. It's a little bit of home."
Seven Days |
Suzanne Podhaizer |
06-13-2008 |
Food+Drink
On HIV, Some Black Ministers Are Admitting that Silence Equals Deathnew
The Good Samaritan Project Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS in Kansas City hopes to fight infections in a city where the HIV infection rate rivals Africa's.
John McCain and the Doomsday Mobnew
With the primary contest behind him, McCain is now gearing up to run against "hope" and "change." In this broader race, lunatic pastors like John Hagee and Rod Parsley become extremely burdensome liabilities. So -- wink wink -- they get cut loose, at least for the next few months until they're needed again.
Artvoice |
Michael I. Niman |
06-02-2008 |
Commentary
