OUR DAYS OF JUDGMENT

THE HEAVEN'S GATE TRAGEDY ASKS US, WHEN DOES A CULT BECOME A FAITH?

One man's heartthrob is, notoriously, his neighbor's grimmest nightmare: What could he possibly see in her, we ask ourselves, watching the tawdrily dressed, flaky and obsequious woman on his arm (and unable, by definition, to see what he sees in her--and with her--when alone)? And one man's faith is no less impossible for a nonbeliever to fathom: in recent days, millions were celebrating the idea that a man actually rose from the dead, while another doubtless felt that he was committing a holy act that would gain him a place in heaven when he strapped a bomb to his body and...

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