Faith life

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God and Forgiveness on the Bathroom Floor: Immaculee Ilibagiza and the Rwandan Genocide

Some books are so powerful, so disturbing, I almost hesitates to recommend them or pass along a copy to a friend. Left to Tell, a spiritual autobiography written by a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, is one such book. A friend who read it at her church lent it to me, and the book spent […]

17Jun2008 | Andrea Useem | 3 comments | Continued
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Emergent Islam? Surfing toward an Ultra-modern American Faith Life

Sometimes while doing research for a writing project, I will end up spending several hours or an entire afternoon or evening clicking from one website to the next, engrossed in the world of online content. My writing project these days is about how religious congregations use Web 2.0 technologies — research that will culminate this […]

22May2008 | Andrea Useem | 10 comments | Continued
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Does Polygamy Have a Legal Future in the U.S.?

Having written previously about polyamory (maintaining multiple romantic relationships) and polygamy (well, really, polygyny — having more than one wife at at time,) I have been intensely interested in the on-going case in Texas, in which more than 400 children of polygamists were put into temporary state custody following allegations of physical and sexual abuse […]

11May2008 | Andrea Useem | 6 comments | Continued
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Mormon American Idol, Church on Second Life and Barack Obama in Indiana

It’s been a big night, yet another Tuesday evening of clicking back and forth between American Idol and Democratic primary results. So first things first: It looks like America is going to have its first-ever Mormon American Idol in 17-year-old David Archuleta. The three judges, Randy, Paula and Simon, go crazy for Archuleta’s earnest crooning, […]

6May2008 | Andrea Useem | 4 comments | Continued
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Faith, Hope and Poverty: A Story from Kenya

Life is frustrating, right? I’m not famous, my two-year-old won’t go to sleep at bedtime, and my least favorite contestant might actually win American Idol. Most of these problems are solvable or irrelevant or not really problems in the first place. But here’s one problem that has bothered me since 1996: How do I help […]

28Apr2008 | Andrea Useem | 1 comment | Continued
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The Most Mysterious Haggadah: Q+A with “People of the Book” author Geraldine Brooks

A sweeping narrative set in multiple locations with a myriad cast of characters, People of the Book, a novel by Pulitzer-prize winning author Geraldine Brooks, is held together by one thing – a powerful fascination with a deceptively tattered book. The maxim “don’t judge a book by its cover” couldn’t be more applicable as the […]

24Apr2008 | Shona Crabtree | 3 comments | Continued
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Why Do Hindus Have the Highest Religious Retention Rate in the U.S?

Reporting on religion is about telling stories — but sometimes it’s also about numbers. Many articles on religion in the U.S. include the boring caveat: “Because the U.S. Census no longer asks about religion, numbers of [insert religious group] are hard to come by.” Denominations and other religious groups usually release their own membership figures, […]

25Feb2008 | Andrea Useem | 4 comments | Continued
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God as a Bearded Zucchini: Phil Vischer on the New Veggie Tales Movie

Last week, ReligionWriter reviewed the new Veggie Tales movie, The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, which is out in theaters today, Jan. 11, and shared her conversation with Phil Vischer, co-creator of Veggie Tales.
Today that conversation, originally held in September in San Antonio, continues. (And RW wishes she had prepared this as a podcast, because […]

11Jan2008 | Andrea Useem | 0 comments | Continued
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What Makes a Movie “Christian?” Q+A on new Veggie Tales movie

There are no shortage of excellent kids movies these days — ReligionWriter rang in the new year watching Ratatouille and eating popcorn with her three young boys, for example — but this Friday, January 11, brings another kid’s option to the big screen: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie.
What does […]

8Jan2008 | Andrea Useem | 7 comments | Continued
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Romney, Muslims and “Conservative Multiculturalism”

While lounging on the couch after an indulgent Christmas dinner this evening, ReligionWriter could not resist turning her attention from relatives and instead reading an essay titled, “Mormons, Muslims and Multiculturalism,” which she stumbled upon while leafing through a recent issue of the conservative Weekly Standard.
The essay, which goes for a lengthy 6,000 words, would […]

25Dec2007 | Andrea Useem | 1 comment | Continued
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