Religion Dispatches
When a serious philosophical lecture on the origin and meaning of Santa Claus is interrupted by the tinkling of bells, jovial laughter, and the mysterious delivery of a case of beer, our writer has the chance to muse on his own former Christmastime convictions.
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This Sunday, an 80-year-old woman in Ireland, Jennifer Sleeman, won’t be attending church. She hopes that other Catholic women in Ireland will join her: “Stay at home and pray for change.”
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Much of Steve Fuller’s new book is just a strong way of saying what is entirely uncontroversial among historians of science, even if easily forgotten by most everyone else.
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The story told by Agora is supposed to stand as a beacon—like the lighthouse that towered over Hypatia’s Alexandria—of the danger that religious passions pose to all that is wise and tolerant about the human spirit.
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Did Williamsburg’s Hasidic community have Mayor Bloomberg close a major bike lane simply because they were offended by the immodestly clothed hipsters biking through their neighborhood, as most of the press has reported? Was a topless protest the best way to respond?
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Mark C. Taylor discusses how trends in today’s world are not “outside” religion, but are part of the history of religious thought.
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Why is the character of Jesus so powerful? Why is he such a hit? Bestselling writer Mary Gordon re-reads the Gospels, asking these questions, among others, and trying to figure out why fundamentalist readings of scripture, grounded in fear and rage, have come to dominate the understanding of religion in this country.
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Peter Rodger traveled through twenty-three countries in three years asking the same question to everyone he met, and filming, gorgeously, the results. Turns out the question—“What is God?”—reveals more than a person’s faith.
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Is there something about civil religion in the US that gives those responsible a pass?
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Performance artist or man of God? Agitator or politician? The Church of Life After Shopping’s Reverend Billy has a choir and a congregation like a preacher—does he have to be a “real” clergyman to minister to the masses?
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