Religion Dispatches
…plugged-in lifestyle doesn’t really get at the heart of the issue. I think the Amish, of all people, have it right. It’s not so much about what you as an individual are doing or not doing, as the effect technology has on the community: Why not make life easier and just put [a phone] in the house? “What would that lead to?” another Amish man asked me. “We don’t want to be the kind of people who will interrupt a conversation at home to answer a tel…
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…ability of cell phones to be used for impure activities, some Jewish cell-phone users have requested so-called “kosher” phones. The idea is to offer conservative Jews a phone that is free of “corrupting influences” of the sort that are already avoided by ultra-orthodox Jews through a ban on television and some radio. Reuters reported in February 2008 that Bezeq Israel Telecom launched a new “kosher” landline phone service, which will block calls…
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…al professionals just prior to buying four firearms and 6,350 rounds of ammunition, or the Columbine killer Eric Harris is said to be sociopath, or that Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, is described as having been “the challenge of [his] family.” Dress it up anyway you want. They are all just crazy guys who got guns. I hope in the coming days we have some meaningful, productive conversations about crazy guys and guns. Really, all I hope to do h…
Read More…slogans about immigration reform. On line I heard that parishes with large numbers of undocumented immigrants had received many tickets. No outside food or water, statues, gifts or selfie sticks were permitted. Despite 10,000 folding chairs, most of us would have no choice but to stand. Once in my appointed place behind the last row of seats, I found myself in a community of fellow pilgrims, lottery winners from local parishes, nearby colleges, an…
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…ualism is bad. Also, he notes but offers no explanation for the decreasing number of marriages in many countries. I am glad to see that in Section 34 he understands this basic fact of contemporary western culture: The ideal of marriage, marked by a commitment to exclusivity and stability, is swept aside whenever it proves inconvenient or tiresome. The fear of loneliness and the desire for stability and fidelity exist side by side with a growing fe…
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…age. His 2012 book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar, has sold widely. Over the phone, I asked Rinzler why he and Burrows had chosen to establish the studio as a for-profit company. “We really wanted to make sure we had all the resources we need for supporting people who are trying meditation for the first time,” Rinzler explained. Because they’re a business, there’s more professionalism. The teachers they’ve hired show up on time, and, as Rinzler put…
Read More…rt him, something to calm him, something to carry him through. For me, the Tuscon shootings finally offer this message: we are so vulnerable, each of us, to illness, and we are so vulnerable to one another. As a progressive person of faith, I’d like to see affordable and accessible mental health care for all Americans. I’d like to see mental illness sufferers and survivors treated with greater dignity and understanding. If our public institutions…
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…r Giffords’ campaign, but the photo is one of Loughner volunteering at the Tuscon Book Festival.) The video concludes, “while it is now known that Loughner himself worked for Giffords election campaign in 2007, and that Giffords subscribed to Loughner’s website since October 25, 2010, suggests that the two may have been in contact more recently. As this case unfolds, you certainly need to know these facts.” Will this half-baked conspiracy theory a…
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…ge in anti-gay picketing of the funerals of the victims of the shooting in Tuscon caused the Arizona legislature to quickly pass legislation prohibiting funeral protests. The legislation may well prove unconstitutional, though the basis on which the decision won’t be decided—the First Amendment’s free exercise clause—may come as a surprise to many observers. It may come as a surprise that, below the radar of most Americans, religion has lost its s…
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…ans would be attracted to, appreciate and consider careers in science (the number is decreasing annually). I bet we’d have more productive conversation among students and leaders of science and religion around the many profound issues in our nation that engage both: abortion, medical care, stem cells, homosexuality, and genomic research. The battle rhetoric would fade and, more than likely, movies like Expelled wouldn’t be made in the first place….
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