Religion Dispatches
…mably would allow you to play both with a god-like perspective and as biblical patriarchs (presumably lending a masculine air to the game and confounding feminist hermeneutics). This means that you would not only control the action but be implicated within it. Furthermore, in a game like Civilization you may be playing as a “god” insofar as decisions about resources and building are concerned, but it doesn’t overtly invite you to see yourself as G…
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…e.” What was jarring about this note, aside from the link it made with radical Islamic ideology, was its proclamation of the movement’s endurance. This is precisely what seems to be challenged by recent events. Given the military collapse of ISIS in Syria and Iraq in recent months, the movement does not seem to have much endurance left. After a long siege and a horrific house-to-house battle, the largest city controlled by ISIS, Mosul, was retaken…
Read More…challenged by anthropologists. The Book of Mormon taught that the phenotypical features of Lamanites—their dark skin—came about as a consequence of unrighteousness. Unsurprisingly, the outlines of this story resembled general American Christian folk theology which attributed racial variation to Biblical curses, specifically identifying African-descended peoples as heirs to curses imposed on Cain or Ham. The Book of Mormon, however, also showed tha…
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…radicts much of the current scientific research. Regardless of one’s political or moral concerns about pornography, public policy ought to rely on the most reputable evidence possible. What’s more, Utah’s declaration fails to address the high rates of porn use among the conservative and religious, despite the state being something of a poster child for the phenomenon. What follows is an excerpt from my book, The Pornography Industry: What Everyone…
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…bott ordered child welfare agencies to treat parental support for, and medical provision of, gender-affirming health care for minors as child abuse. And while that attack is certainly political—although many in the press seem to rely on a fairly narrow definition of that term when they describe the cruel Texas policy—it’s no longer tenable to argue that the attack is “merely” theoretical or rhetorical, even if a handful of state officials have sai…
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…for LGBT civil society organizations caught in simultaneous waves of political pressure.” Bangladesh: LGBT editor murdered by Islamists Xulhaz Mannan, editor of Roopbaan, the country’s first LGBT magazine, was hacked to death last Monday along with a friend Tanay Mjumdar. An al-Qaeda affiliate took credit for the killing A Twitter handle that identified itself as an outlet of Ansar Al Islam said its fighters had killed the two men, calling them “t…
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…ing for worship solely in person. She predicates this argument on the physical nature of Christians, writing: “Bodies, with all the risk, danger, limits, mortality and vulnerability that they bring, are part of our deepest humanity, not obstacles to be transcended through digitization.” “Online church,” says Warren, “diminishes worship and us as people.” Because she sees embodiment as “an irreducible part” of the wholeness of worship, Warren is un…
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…the Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica published an article on the political alliance between conservative evangelicals and Catholics in the U.S., calling it an “ecumenism of hate.” From the Jesuit-run America magazine: U.S. politics have become increasingly colored by an apocalyptic world view, promoted by certain fundamentalist Christians, that fosters hatred, fear and intolerance, said an influential Jesuit magazine. In fact, this world view…
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…ide the home. When Sephardic Jews arrived in New Amsterdam in the 1650s, local authorities instructed them to “exercise in all quietness their religion in their houses.” Maryland, though founded as a haven for Catholics, ultimately banned Catholic churches as the Anglican majority gained power. The colony’s Jesuit priests, barred from tending parishes, could still minister to “private Familyes,” as one priest confirmed in 1727. They traveled on ho…
Read More…een used to perpetuate the belief that black people were mentally and physically inferior to white people to justify passing discriminatory laws against them. Today, anti-gay factions like NARTH continue to use flawed and discredited research to “prove” that gay and lesbian people are sex-crazed and disease-ridden. No, the only cure for “figuring out” this homosexuality thing is this: curing the bigotry against gays and lesbians fueled by religion…
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