LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
all prayers must be answered.”
As she explains, the tools of
“digi-vangelism” may be new,
but the notion of using the latest technology to build religious
communities has been the hallmark not only of televangelists
like Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry
Falwell, but earlier missionaries
going all the way back to the beginning of organized religion itself. As Contagious author Jonah
Berger puts it, “Religion is the
original social media. Even that
phrase, ‘spreading the gospel.’
Religion is one of the original
things that people shared
to a good degree.”
Elsewhere in the issue,
Ryan J. Reilly looks at the hunger
strikes that have brought attention — if only briefly — back to
Guantanamo, and the fact that
President Obama still hasn’t
honored his pledge to close the
prison camp down. Eleven years
after prisoners first arrived, 166
remain at Guantanamo, and despite widespread calls for its
closure, the facility continues
to expand, from a recently built
courthouse and refurbished
sports center to a chapel under
HUFFINGTON
06.09.13
construction. Meanwhile,
Guantanamo’s prisoners and
lawyers have been clamoring to
make their voices heard. As one
prisoner wrote, “I just hope that
because of the pain we are suffering, the eyes of the world will
In life, prayers may
or may not be realized.
But in the social media
realm of the Night of
Hope, all prayers must
be answered.”
once again look to Guantánamo
before it is too late.”
Finally, as part of our ongoing
coverage of stress and its destructive effects on our lives, we’re looking at our country’s most-stressed
cities and states, along with a
stress-less recipe for a
delicious summer dish.
ARIANNA