Posts in Religion
Trapped In A Digital Cage: Western News Outlets Let Iranians Down

(OPINION) Iranians are trapped in a digital iron cage as the state continues to deprive citizens of internet access, largely thanks to Chinese and Russian technology. The Iranian diaspora is turning to Western news outlets — but their coverage of Iran has been problematic, too.

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Why The Manosphere Has An Antisemitism Problem

(ANALYSIS) The manosphere is a catchall term for websites, forums, blogs and influencers promoting hypermasculinity, from the belief that women and feminism are the cause of men’s problems to calls to legalize rape. Groups within it — including pickup artists, men’s rights groups and “involuntary celibate” or “incel” communities — portray themselves as victims of modernity.

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On Horseback, Catholics Celebrate Chile’s Feast Of Quasimodo

Some 1,800 horsemen flooded the streets of Colina, a rural municipality on the outskirts of Santiago, for the Feast of Cuasimodo on April 12. They accompanied the priests who traveled in a carriage to bring communion to the elderly and the sick on the Sunday after Easter, a tradition that dates back to the early years of Chile as a republic.

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Católicos A Caballo Celebran La Fiesta De Cuasimodo en Chile

Unos 1.800 jinetes inundaron las calles de Colina, un municipio rural en las afueras de Santiago, para la Fiesta de Cuasimodo el 12 de abril. Acompañaron a los sacerdotes que viajaban en una carreta para llevar la comunión a los ancianos y a los enfermos el domingo después de Pascua, una tradición que se remonta a los primeros años de Chile como república.

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Historical Drama ‘A Great Awakening’ A Film That Might Put You To Sleep

(REVIEW) “A Great Awakening” explores the friendship between Benjamin Franklin and George Whitfield, using their relationship to examine faith’s role in America’s founding. However, the film lacks the power and impact that it claims Whitfield had on his audiences.

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In God’s Name: Stories Of Faith And Vigilante Justice

Categorizing those who do violence is a messy business. The very individuals who are called heroes, warriors and revolutionaries by some can be categorized as villains, murderers and radicals by others. But when the morality of a violent person is highly controversial or just ambiguous, we have a separate, more fuzzy term – we call them a vigilante.

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Analysis, Christianity, Conflict, Crime, Culture, hinduism, History, Human Rights, Islam, Jewish, Judaism, News, Politics, Religion, Religion News, SocietyMatthew PetersonMatthew Peterson, news, podcast, Vigilantism, religious vigilantism, moral ambiguity, justice vs law, extrajudicial action, violence and morality, ethics of violence, law vs religion, moral relativism, justification of violence, terrorist vs freedom fighter, moral framing, subjective morality, ethical dilemmas, justice outside the law, legitimacy of violence, authority and morality, radicalization, moral absolutism vs relativism, social constructs of justice, religion and violence, faith-based justice, divine law vs civil law, religious extremism, religious ethics, theocracy vs secular law, Christianity and violence, Islam and violence, Judaism and violence, religious radical movements, taking the law into your own hands, political violence, extremist actions, mass violence, verbal harassment, radical activism, martyrdom, mass suicide, revolutionary violence, ideological conflict, vigilante, terrorist, freedom fighter, radical, extremist, revolutionary, hero vs villain, moral outlaw, historical case studies, ancient history, modern extremism, comparative religion, cross-cultural analysis, recent history, case study storytelling, true crime adjacent, philosophy podcast, religion podcast, history podcast, ethics discussion, sociopolitical analysis, deep dive storytelling, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, religion, recharge, Secondary featureComment
AI Companions Can Give Support, But Distort What A Relationship Really Is

(ANALYSIS) When the movie “Her” debuted in 2013, its plot felt like science fiction. The protagonist, Theodore, is a jaded man with no vigor for life. He comes alive after talking daily with his AI chatbot, with whom he falls in love. Today people actually report being in relationships with AI companions.

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Amid A Ceasefire, Christians Flock To This ‘Holy Fire’ Ceremony Once More

They waited patiently with unlit tapers, waiting for their turn as the Holy flame passed from person-to-person, eventually illuminating the whole crowd of more than 18,000. Some participants would take their flames as far away as Greece or Romania, where the faithful were waiting to see their own miracle.

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Yemen’s Female Journalists Face Islamic Cleric-Led Harassment Campaigns

When journalist Hiba Al-Tabai's husband posted a photo of the newlywed couple on Facebook last year, she never imagined it would upend their lives. Within hours of the seemingly innocuous post, Yemeni member of parliament and Muslim cleric Abdullah Al-Odini, who commands over 150,000 followers, condemned the image as "a violation of Islam and societal values.”

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Orban’s Defeat Signals A Turning Point For Hungary: What You Need To Know

(ANALYSIS) In a big electoral upset, Hungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban after 16 years in power — rejecting the authoritarian policies and the right-wing movement he embodied in favor of a pro-European challenger. Orban, in conceding defeat, told supporters: “The responsibility and opportunity to govern were not given to us.”

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This Muslim Nation Is One Of The Most Religiously Inclusive In The World

Every year, between late May and early June, something happens on the 43-mile road to the Catholic sanctuary of Popenguine, outside Dakar, that is unremarkable in Senegal and extraordinary almost anywhere else in Africa or the world: Muslim youth walk the route alongside their Christian peers.

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Why Forgiveness — Not Weapons — May Be Our Best Response To War

(OPINION) Most of us can recognize and control that primitive impulse to club everything in sight in favor of safety and civilization. Between wars from way back, humans dropped the club and learned to speak, to convey meaning from sounds and symbols, and I kinda like the words-over-weapons thing we had going. You can make friends with words, only enemies with weapons.

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The Pentagon Fears The Vatican’s Authority In A Battle Over Christianity’s Power

(ANALYSIS) In a world in which the Vatican has only soft power, the pope’s decrees carry only as much power as they are given. But however soft the pope’s power may be, that surreal Vatican visit to the Pentagon suggests that even the best-armed military in the world is afraid of it.

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‘No Safe Place Anymore’ For Lebanon Baptists As Israeli-Hezbollah War Escalates

Baptists in Lebanon are suffering the escalation of Israel’s war with Hezbollah, as the war zone has expanded to include areas surrounding Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) and the Beirut Baptist School, both founded by Southern Baptists.

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🚀 Love From The Moon: Artemis II Pilot Touts Jesus’ Greatest Command 🔌

As those who’ve followed Artemis II’s record 252,756-mile journey from Earth have discovered, faith is extremely important to Victor Glover, the moon mission’s pilot.

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Lamine Yamal, Islam And Spanish Soccer’s Growing Religious Fault Lines

(ANALYSIS) What should have been a routine game for Spain’s national soccer team at home against Egypt on March 31 instead became a revealing and deeply uncomfortable moment — one that placed superstar striker Lamine Yamal at the center of a broader conversation about identity, faith and belonging.

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King Charles’ Easter Silence Raises Questions on Faith and Leadership

(ANALYSIS) A year ago, King Charles III, in an Easter message that made little news, proclaimed that the love Jesus showed “when he walked the Earth reflected the Jewish ethic of caring for the stranger and those in need, a deep human instinct echoed in Islam and other religious traditions. ... The abiding message of Easter is that God so loved the world — the whole world — that He sent His son to live among us to show us how to love one another, and to lay down His own life for others in a love that proved stronger than death.”

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‘We Have Endured’: Islam’s Third Branch Has Deep Roots On This African Island

Wedged between a pizzeria and a clothing shop in Houmt Souk, the capital of Tunisia’s island of Djerba, lies an ancient treasure. The El Barounia Library is one of the oldest centers preserving Ibadi heritage in North Africa. Ibadism presents itself as a third path — between the two major branches — within Islam.

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Augustine Of Hippo: Meet The Man Who Forever Rewired Christianity

(ANALYSIS) The man who would become one of Christianity's most formidable minds spent his early life doing things he knew were wrong and deploying his considerable intelligence to explain why that was probably fine. Saint Augustine of Hippo would go on to forever change his life, and with it, Christianity.

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