Religion Dispatches
…y is that it is not limited to religiopolitical violence. Lankford cites a number of American suicide terrorists that exhibited “classic suicidal traits.” Like Joseph Stack, a divorced software engineer with tax problems. In 2010, Stack crashed his single-engine plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas, killing himself and an IRS manager; “There isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken [with me],” Stack wrote in the…
Read More…“Hundreds of ultra-orthodox Jewish men delayed takeoff of a transatlantic flight by refusing to sit next to women, and then caused chaos once it was airborne [by standing in the aisles for the entire flight and refusing to occupy their seats].” Obviously a congested plane aisle isn’t the end of the world (although one can imagine it might be a safety issue in some situations), and the news reports have treated it as a kind of amusing oddity. But…
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…lashes that broke out around the “Freedom Bus.” From the Washington Blade: Supporters and opponents of the “Freedom Bus,” which is part of a campaign that CitizenGO, a conservative Spanish organization, has launched with the support of evangelical and Catholic organizations, clashed near the presidential palace. Neo-Nazi groups are among those who reportedly took part in the protests. A number of people were injured during the clashes. Activists a…
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…ly selected Duché in order to influence a large sect that was relatively unsupportive of American independence. Duché was an ordained Episcopal clergyman who presided over a loyalist congregation but was willing to affiliate with the soon-to-be rebels. Sam Adams only approved of Duché because he “had heard that Mr. Duché” was a “Friend to his Country,” despite being part of King George III’s church. In other words, this prayer proposal wasn’t abou…
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…’s “supreme being” and another’s “Queen,” even. As Marc Leepson’s Flag: An American Biography tells the story, the American flag, while approved in 1777 largely for the protection of American ships at sea, was not widely displayed by civilians until the Civil War. Once the flag was lowered over Fort Sumter, flags rose over houses and wagons and even hats. The next major watershed in civilian relations to flags was 9/11. Gardella writes that “Accor…
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…ment than benefit.” Cambodia: challenges for LGBT people in spite of royal support At The Diplomat, Luke Hung and Molyny Pann review the status of LGBT people in Cambodia, which “has seen increasing numbers of gays emerging into public life as the country continues to rapidly normalize after three decades of war.” Cambodians have traditionally shunned the gay community, and LGBT practices are often viewed as being against nature and a threat to re…
Read More…rvey of its members found that many of them were planning to abandon their support for the Conservative Party, with the biggest portion moving their support to the right-wing UKIP. Dave Landrum, advocacy director for the Evangelical Alliance, said people were concerned about poverty, inequality, and same-sex marriage. “The marriage issue has certainly turbocharged the shift in people,” he said. “Many commented that the redefinition of marriage had…
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…onstitution.” Based on the “explanatory memorandum” document identifying a number of American Muslim organizations as allies in its author’s aspirations, prosecutors in the Holy Land Foundation trial publicly labeled over 200 American Muslim organizations “unindicted co-conspirators,” a highly controversial move derided at the time by legal experts as contrary to Justice Department policy and in violation of the groups’ constitutional rights. Even…
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…e story of a small group coming to grips with a mass cultural trauma. As a number of notable sociologists put forth in their book Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity (University of California Press, 2004), society, to put it simply, can experience trauma like an individual can. As with the individual, there are a few things that make a society more vulnerable to trauma. “A society emerging from a major war, suffering from diminished economic r…
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…riests who remained in the city throughout the storm providing ministerial support to persons stranded at the Superdome and at the airport. He also draws attention to the large number of congregations from New Orleans and elsewhere that rushed in to the city after the storm (ahead of and in spite of opposition from governmental agencies) “to serve as first responders . . . as relief centers and islands of stability and reconstruction for neighborh…
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