Religion Dispatches
…ance.” A dear friend of mine lost her son several years ago in Greenville, South Carolina. He was hit so hard by his assailant that his brain stem separated from his brain. He died in the hospital hours later. The last thing he heard was his attacker calling him “faggot.” He was only 20-years-old. His attacker spent only one year in jail and is currently out of jail and serving three years of probation. The passage this past week of a measure addi…
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…’t been so overplayed, “Jack and Diane” might be appreciated as the modest Indiana version of Springsteen’s Jersey anthem “Born to Run”—but Mellencamp’s song was more about the aftermath of the myth than the glory in pursuing it: “Life goes on, long after the thrill of living has gone.” More often, Mellencamp and Seger’s aims exceeded their grasp. Their earnestness, juxtaposed with their modest talents as singers, stamped a shelf life on that musi…
Read More…ouse homosexuality, I can see the Bible being banned in the military.” The Southern Baptist Convention has also turned its attention to the gulf oil spill. The SBC is urging churches to get involved in the clean up and to hold both government authorities and big oil responsible. Questions of Christianity and feminism continue to haunt the Tea Party and the Republicans this week. Is South Carolina’s Nikkie Haley Christian enough for the evangelical…
Read More…ormon missionaries and when Mormon elders were tarred and feathered in the South. It’s a timely and necessary reminder. Because from the chatter around the Mormon blogosphere, I’m gathering that politically opportunistic anti-Muslim sentiment is simmering in the more conservative sectors of the LDS world. And whereas one usually hears valiant reports on the Mormon grapevine of LDS humanitarian responses to major natural disasters, I’m getting at…
Read More…of America. The lesson then connects the site of Prince’s prayer, the Old South Church, to Samuel Adams and thus to the American Revolution. It trumpets the role of the “Black Robe Brigade,” putting ministers at the center of the revolution while ignoring the fact that Christian ministers could be found on both sides of the conflict. This is an incredible distortion of American history, and it highlights a tremendous irony: by adopting this expli…
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…American diplomat and Theosophist who converted to Islam and was funded by Indian merchants to proselytize in the United States. Webb’s efforts failed, but he was followed by thousands of immigrants from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South Asia and by African Americans, who converted to varying forms of Islam, some of which, such as the Nation of Islam, were distinctly a product of African American experiences. They built American mosques a…
Read More…count as full persons because it would increase the representation of the southern states in Congress) and the anti-slavery delegates (who wanted slaves not to count at all in order to decrease the representation in Congress of the slave states). One can certainly say the compromise diminished the pro-slavery representation in Congress, and thus the Southern states’ political power, compared to counting slaves as full persons. (Since slaves could…
Read More…ericans. The Ahmadis are a movement that originated in the 19th century in South Asia. They are generally considered to be the first group to come to the United States in an organized way and were heavily involved in converting African-Americans to Islam in the early part of the 20th century. In Pakistan, they are targeted by certain sectors as being heretics. This history of being a persecuted minority, but also being fairly cosmopolitan, should…
Read More…until you explode. As I contemplated the commonplace nature of obesity in South Central PA, and its prevalence among Christians and non-Christians alike, I remembered something about gluttony being one of the seven deadly sins. And then it hit me like a T-bone steak through my TV screen—that’s right up there with lust on the list of deadly sins. Here we were, slothfully chowing away in the richest nation in the world, in a mall a few doors down f…
Read More…gement.” Speaking of poor judgment, a non-denominational Florida church plans to host “International Burn a Qur’an Day” on the anniversary of 9/11. The same Gainesville church made news in the past with its “No Homo Mayor” signs opposing an openly gay mayor. Lt. Governor of South Carolina André Bauer discusses how he uses shoes to save souls. New York Governor David Paterson denied reports that he had swapped Judaism for his Catholic faith. Howeve…
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