Religion Dispatches
…History, distant lands; studios and cafes: you can occupy them. And, as a bonus, families can get reunited in life after life—“we come into lifetimes often with the same people,” Weiss explains—so there’s a wholesome message here, too. Reincarnation is the rare topic that provokes both scientists and the Southern Baptist Convention. But, as quack-ish doctors and bold religious repackaging goes, Couric’s reincarnation episode doesn’t seem so bad a…
Read More…ntion is getting ready to double down on its anti-gay message. As an added bonus, their condemnation has gone all inclusive as they take special aim at the transgender community, who, up until now, had been largely ignored by the conservative Protestant denomination. As members gather this week in Baltimore, Md., for their annual meeting, Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has already fired the opening salvo…
Read More…vation that Palin is “running as kind of like the other partner, somewhere between a VP and a First Lady.” Here was McCain, the angry old warrior, deploying sex as a central political weapon to recharge his potency, his party’s fortunes and the cultural oomph of the right. Not gender. The Republicans didn’t need just any woman to compete with Obama for the Wow factor, the Mmm factor, the stable, loving family factor. It is a calculated bonus that…
Read More…own: a photo opportunity with Palin chatting it up with hoi polloi, with a bonus side of Piper sniping at her mom. The Palin bus rolled into Philadelphia yesterday so that Palin and family could visit Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Predictably, there was a crazy press scrum, complete with helicopters, police escorts, random Tea Partiers, a donkey, and an elephant. Traveling with Piper, Todd, her parents, and a media throng racing behind,…
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…tional response, laughter being the emotional response, a form of weeping. Bonus: An Interview with Ultra Spiritual JP Sears Ultra Spiritual JP, is there an inherent conflict between religion and science? There’s no scientific basis to back up science. The fundamentalist scientists haven’t been willing to prove how science is actually scientific, because of their dogmatic beliefs. Wait, are you implying that science is a religion? Science is perha…
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…even admirable. Thus Israel’s PR stumbles. During a creepy back-and-forth between Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades and the Israeli Defense Forces, the IDF apparently managed to get its Twitter account suspended. (It’s up for dispute.) Anderson Cooper live tweeted from Gaza. Hacker collective Anonymous tied its disruption of official Israeli Twitter accounts to its intervention against Mubarak’s authoritarianism. Among celebrities, too, there were conse…
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…battered by Muslims and Marxists, in which to make his stand. As an added bonus, he can defend the Catholic faith in a national church. The Orthodox communion is governed through a highly decentralized, synodical system in which 15 self-governing churches—traditionally organized along national/ethnic lines—act with autonomy. While this system of ecclesiastical governance predates by centuries modern concepts of race and nationalism, for a nationa…
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…et the new book or books are still just whispering at the back of my head. Bonus: Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about your book? If you’re considering teaching all or part of the book, you might be interested to know that the Sisters have houses (non-residential chapters) in many large cities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. They are often happy to visit classrooms, and they will come in habit to discuss their ow…
Read More…ly—well, one begins to wonder whether you’ve thought even one step ahead. Bonus tip: When your dad asks you, three times, what happened at your friend’s house, and when he prefaces the third time with “I’m going to give you one last chance,” the jig is up, and it’s time to confess everything. 3. A large vocabulary is an asset. If a family member has just confessed something regarding her sexual history, and you’re surprised by the news, search yo…
Read More…et the new book or books are still just whispering at the back of my head. Bonus: Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about your book? If you’re considering teaching all or part of the book, you might be interested to know that the Sisters have houses (non-residential chapters) in many large cities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. They are often happy to visit classrooms, and they will come in habit to discuss their ow…
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