Religion Dispatches
…s inner circle has been running smoothly since Bannon came on board in mid-August, he said. “I think if you look at the opposition party, and how they portrayed the campaign, how they portrayed the transition, and how they’re portraying the administration—it’s always wrong,” Bannon said. He went on: That’s what the mainstream media won’t report…Just like they were dead wrong on the chaos of the campaign, and just like they were dead wrong on the c…
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…f many Sikh places of worship in this tradition of hospitality. On Sunday, August 12 the Gurdwara is holding a vigil for those injured or killed in the Oak Creek shootings. Everyone in the community is welcome, and non-Sikhs are invited to show their solidarity. Just underneath that announcement of welcome, the “Law Enforcement Training Video On Sikhism” is posted. The description of the video reads: Awareness of cultural and religious observation…
Read More…alism that Harvard has traditionally espoused. JUNE In June, Greaves did a number of interviews taking aim at Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and his efforts to ban gay marriage and limit access to abortion. A native of Detroit, Greaves called Snyder “an idiot governor.” He discussed campaigns that would invoke the free exercise clause to challenge Snyder’s legislation, including the assertions that gay marriage is a Satanic sacrament and that Satan…
Read More…e is more ruthless than a gardener with a garden full of zucchini. Garrison Keillor once said the only time Lutherans in Lake Wobegon lock their car doors in the church parking lot is in August. Otherwise they are likely to come out of Sunday service to find that someone has left a grocery bag full of zucchinis on the front car seat….
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…zero, a numerical system that allows you to do calculations of very large numbers very precisely. The Maya fell in love with numbers too cumbersome to calculate with Roman numerals. The Maya believed these numbers created some sort of godly power. Say, by some miracle, that 12/21/12 does turn out to be the end of the world… how would you spend your last day on Earth? I would get together with the people I love and tell them how much I really love…
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…has, at least, one black congregation within the Massachusetts diocese. On August 30th St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church in Cambridge housed the marriage and blessed the union of its mayor, E. Denise Simmons and, her lifetime partner, Ms. Mattie Hayes. Mayor Simmons, a native Cantabridgian, who presides over a diverse demographic consisting of people from various racial, cultural, economic and sexual orientations had only one church she could go to…
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…ictator. And while the American Right might be praying that Trump is their Augustus, a widely revered emperor who grew the Roman Empire significantly, it’s more likely that he’s their Caligula, the vain and petty tyrant. But most importantly: they don’t care which it turns out to be. When it comes to Cawthorn and his mangled history, one might suggest he instead read up on Catiline instead, someone who conspired to take the consulship by force aft…
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…be the most serious sorts of priestly misconduct worthy of review by this august tribunal? Not surprisingly, the list focused on sacramental theology and ritual practices for the most part. Article Two of the “Norms” addressed the promulgation of “heresy, apostasy and schism,” and outlined the procedures that would result in the excommunication, deposition or dismissal of any ordained clergy implicated in such things. So, no heresy or apostasy al…
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…Promoting Integral Human Development formally began its work. Announced in August 2016 in his Humanam Progressionem, a document that attracted little attention in secular media outlets, the new department merges the work of four pontifical councils established during the Vatican II era, encompassing the briefs of justice and peace, migration, humanitarian relief, and healthcare workers (no small task in an organization that still nominally oversee…
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On August 6, President Obama signed into law the Honoring America’s Veterans and Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 (H.R. 1627, an expansive bill with two primary goals: caring for veterans and their families who were harmed by contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, from 1957 to 1987 and addressing veterans’ health, housing, education, benefits, and burial needs). The bill passed overwhelmingly in both houses of Congress, with the pre…
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