All posts tagged: Literal

Some churches don’t preach a literal resurrection. Here’s how they celebrate Easter.

Some churches don’t preach a literal resurrection. Here’s how they celebrate Easter.

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — “I don’t have a belief in any form of resurrection,” declared the Rev. Duncan Littlefair, then-pastor of Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to NBC’s Frank McGee on the “Today” show in April 1973. Wearing a white turtleneck and navy blazer, the pastor explained that he viewed the idea of Jesus’ physical resurrection as “absurd” and the notion of being saved only through Christ as a “totally provincial, Western view.” In the days that followed, both NBC and Fountain Street faced backlash as viewers caught wind of the pastor’s unconventional beliefs. But even in the 1970s, Fountain Street, a historic church founded in 1869 that had earned a reputation as a dogma-free activist outpost, wasn’t the only church where Jesus’ resurrection could be called into question. In 1961, the Unitarian Universalist Association had formed, a noncreedal tradition whose theological heritage saw Jesus as a moral exemplar, not God incarnate. These days, the landscape of noncreedal faith traditions has grown to encompass not just Unitarian Universalist congregations or historic, independent churches like Fountain …

The Actual, Literal College for Tradwives, Where Right-Wing Women Seek Their Mrs. Degrees

The Actual, Literal College for Tradwives, Where Right-Wing Women Seek Their Mrs. Degrees

Published by Sam Flores

Hyles-Anderson, an unaccredited college founded in 1972, is an hour drive from downtown Chicago and awards four-year degrees, operating independently of government oversight. Its website maintains this is to “avoid the potential of outside influences or pressures to change our theological, doctrinal, and moral position.” Hyles-Anderson did not respond to a request for comment. While prospective applicants “must be either a high school graduate or have a GED certificate,” the admission policies at Hyles-Anderson also consider a student’s marital status. According to the 2025-2026 academic catalog, “Married students must be at least 20 years old by the first day of registration for each semester. Single, divorced students must be at least 25 years of age by the first day of registration for each semester.” Tuition costs a modest $2,500 per semester with the total rising to $5,550 to include room and board and a registration fee. The alumni network is narrow, with graduates mostly appearing to funnel into the familiar pipeline of pastors, missionary, or ministry leader roles. For men, the college experience at Hyles-Anderson …

Two Literal Crypto Bros Built a Real Estate Empire. Then the Homes Started to Fall Apart

Two Literal Crypto Bros Built a Real Estate Empire. Then the Homes Started to Fall Apart

Published by skeptic

As they eyed further expansion in Detroit, the brothers worked with real estate professional Shawn Reed, who, according to court documents, started to identify and sometimes help renovate properties for RealT to tokenize. Unbeknownst to the Jacobsons, Reed had a checkered past; he had previously served prison time for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and once agreed that he could be described as a “slumlord.” He teed up deals that helped RealT to keep pace with the now-soaring demand for its tokens. I spoke with one investor, who posts on Telegram as TokNist, who said that when they first heard about RealT, they understood the proposition immediately. A French national living in Asia, TokNist (who asked to not be named out of fear of retaliation by other RealT investors) had wanted to buy real estate but couldn’t secure a loan. RealT offered a way to invest small sums without any bank involvement. “A lot of people are like me,” says TokNist. “They are not wealthy speculators. They are simple people who want a piece of …

SpaceX Gives Million Prize to Literal Nazi Who Has Bragged About His Profound Racism

SpaceX Gives $1 Million Prize to Literal Nazi Who Has Bragged About His Profound Racism

Published by José Betancourt

Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Allison Robbert / AFP via Getty Images Elon Musk’s X — formerly known as Twitter and newly acquired by SpaceX — says it will give a million bucks to a proudly self-proclaimed Nazi. On Tuesday, the social media site and Grok-run asylum announced the winners of its “$1M Article Contest,” with the grand prize going to a user named Beaver with the handle @beaverd. As many quickly noticed, that user happens to be an out-and-out white supremacist with over 100,000 followers, who Musk has interacted with in the past. Don’t just take our word for it. In one tweet, Beaver — who describes himself as “God’s most r*tarded soldier” — expressed his regret that Trump wasn’t even more right wing, writing that he wished the US president “was literally Hitler.” One of his favorite groups to rail against are Somalis — the right’s bugbear du jour — accusing them of having lower IQ than wild animals. He also runs a website that supposedly tracks government spending and fraud …

Elon Musk After His Grok AI Did Disgusting Things to Literal Children: “Way Funnier”

Elon Musk After His Grok AI Did Disgusting Things to Literal Children: “Way Funnier”

Published by José Betancourt

Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images Last week, Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok began fielding an influx of stunningly inappropriate requests. Though the AI has long been known to have loose guardrails, users suddenly swarmed the AI to generate either nudes or sexually charged images of X users based on photos they posted to the site — and it obliged. Even worse, some of the individuals it took requests for appeared to be minors. The trend was so prolific that AI content analysis firm Copyleaks estimated the bot was generating a nonconsensually sexualized image every single minute. Equally stunning is that the chatbot’s maker, xAI, has remained silent on the issue, despite it gaining international attention in news media and on X, where the bot operates. So has owner and CEO Musk — except for one instance in which he completely failed to meet the gravity of the situation. “Grok’s viral image moment has arrived, it’s a little different than the Ghibli one was though,” one writer who covers AI …

FT Exposes The Literal Definition Of Ponzi-Scheming In Private Equity

FT Exposes The Literal Definition Of Ponzi-Scheming In Private Equity

Published by Jenni Sidey

In what can only be described as the financial industry’s most brazen act of self-dealing since the last crisis, private equity giants are now openly selling assets to themselves at record pace, propping up their crumbling empire with a tactic that reeks of pure Ponzi desperation. According to the Financial Times, roughly one-fifth of all private equity exits this year involved firms raising fresh cash from new suckers investors to buy portfolio companies from their own aging funds. That’s a sharp jump from the 12-13% seen in prior years, with Raymond James’ Sunaina Sinha Haldea predicting a staggering $107 billion in these incestuous transactions for 2025, blowing past last year’s $70 billion. These so-called “continuation vehicles” let PE barons hand money back to restless limited partners in older funds while keeping control of the assets – and, crucially, resetting the clock on lucrative management fees and carried interest. It’s the ultimate have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too scam: cash out the old money, lock in the new money, and keep milking the same cow indefinitely. “This year is set to break …