…an exorcism by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley. Oklahoma City has also been the site of an ongoing controversy as The Satanic Temple (a different Satanic group) has campaigned to erect a monument to Satan on the grounds of the state capital to complement the current monument of the Ten Commandments. After Michael Tate Reed II rammed his car into the Ten Commandments monument on October 24, shattering it, the Satanic Temple released a statement condemni…
…ns who are pressing for Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount: Tensions at the site have been escalating as some Israeli lawmakers have stepped up provocations to reverse the long-standing ban on Jewish prayer there, once considered a fringe position but now a growing rallying cry on the Israeli right. No Israeli prime minister since the war of June 1967, when the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem began — including stalwarts Menachem Begin, Ariel S…
…geable institution. While the other side of the debate emphasized the huge number of laws and policies tied to marriage, simply changing laws and policies quickly became an inadequate response. Marriage seemed to function as a status that enabled full citizenship, and advocates often made the analogy to nineteenth and early twentieth-century bans on interracial marriage. By examining the history of these controversies we can better understand what…
…ing the ICEJ event to a “troubling trend” of Christian control of Old City sites. Haaretz reports that the group has put up posters in Jerusalem saying that “attempts to portray the vigil as harmless are deliberate acts of deception on the part of missionaries who seek to attract Jews and strengthen the church’s hold on holy sites in the Old City.” To be clear, ICEJ’s promotional materials do not explicitly invite Jews to join the prayer vigil, bu…
…e not.” Jason Bivins notes that for the New Christian Right, schools are a site not just of political but cosmic struggle against the forces of evil. This is a worldview in which ordinary policies can be seen as demonic persecution. Just as claims of a “War on Christmas” equated saying “Happy Holidays” with anti-Christian hostility, policies about saying “bless you” at inappropriate times may soon become the next battlefield of the culture wars. T…
…ople into the classroom to speak about their faiths, and by visiting local sites that are important to faith communities—all the while focused on keeping to an academic, “outsider” (and not devotional, “insider”) perspective. To those of who report on religion and its role in society and culture, it seems clear that a solid education should include the study of religion(s). And yet there’s some confusion about what it means to teach religion as a…
…to the space as “sacred,” and suggest people will make “pilgrimage” to the site. The language is more than mere museum visitor attending a public institution. The space is hallowed ground. We secular people may not believe we are fetishists, bowing to divine sculptures for help in fertility and war, but our responses at memorials and museums show that we at least continue to be functional animists. There is an animating force at work within the ma…
…and to help recruit other Jews to join in this special effort.” Here’s the best part: “This effort isn’t only about money,” says [Fran] Katz Watson, the Democratic political fundraiser and former finance director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). “But it certainly includes money. We want your names, we want your time, we want your enthusiasm, but we also want a little of your mone…
…ted limbs inspired numerous stories, games, and videos that appeared on websites like Creepypasta. In an NPR interview Knudsen explained that he feels more like the creature’s manager than its creator. Soon online forums speculated that Slender Man had not been created by Knudsen, but was a real entity described by ancient cultures around the world. A recent book by Rev. Robin Swope (aka “The Paranormal Pastor”) asserts that Slender Man is an actu…
…ple of religion and theology professors, way back during the Bush era. The site was launched in 2008 as an experiment in bringing religion scholarship to a wider audience, and as a counter-voice to that of the religious right. Nominated for four Webby awards, with traffic of a publication five times its size, RD has evolved from an academic project to a thriving online magazine. Do you accept unsolicited submissions? Yes, see guidelines by clickin…
