SACRILEGE
Thousands of Torah scrolls bought by wealthy evangelicals are not just being mishandled and used to boost Christian beliefs, but exploited as a multimillion-dollar tax writeoff.
Joel Baden is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School and the author, most recently, of Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby.
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ONE MAN’S TRASH...
The Oxford-based Oxyrhynchus Society announced the discovery of a second-century piece of the Gospel of Mark from a dig in an Egyptian garbage dump.
MYTH BUSTING
Sketchy doesn't even begin to describe the controversy surrounding artifacts in the new Museum of the Bible, which is backed by evangelicals investigated for illicit artifacts.
ANCIENT WORLD
A piece of recently found papyrus is said to prove that Jerusalem was the center of a kingdom thousands of years ago. But the timing of its discovery has cast some doubt on it.
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Holy Hell
One of America’s most famously Christian businesses is amassing a vast collection of biblical antiquities—but some may have been looted from the Middle East.
HURT
In addition to faceless corporations, the pope thinks childless couples are selfish. But that is just one position in a multi-voiced Bible.
Now That You Mention It
Mike Pence’s new “religious freedom” bill that allows businesses to discriminate against LGBT citizens just makes a few longstanding, prejudiced practices fully legal.
Condemned…
ISIS isn’t original in smashing the past to prop up the present. It’s been the practice of totalitarians throughout the ages.
Say What?
The pontiff has a bad habit of dissing women and marginalizing sexual minorities. Is he as liberal as his image suggests?
X Marks the Spot
Harper Collins said it was just giving its customers what they wanted, but maps have always reflected the biases of those drawing the boundaries.