Religion Dispatches
…such delicate matters. As previously mentioned with Judaism, however, because the pig is not actually being consumed and is being utilized to save a human life, we can suspect such a transplant would be considered mubah, or permissible. Of course, the question is bound to surface at some point as to whether they have to use a pig? Why not another animal so as to save the trouble of these religious debates? Unfortunately (or quite fortunately, d…
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…when a restaurant in Tel Aviv had its Kashrut certification withdrawn because it offered belly-dancing among its entertainment options. Only a minority of Israeli citizens, and Israeli parliamentarians, are Orthodox Jews. But because of the complex history of Synagogue–State relations in Israel, the Orthodox rabbinate controls many areas of life; with the Kashrut laws being only the most obvious. In fact, the most contentious area is not food, bu…
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…ey are illegitimate. This worldview—divided between winners and losers, to use two words popular with our new president—has, it seems, little use for sacrifice. Trump, in his speech, evoked not the ultimate sacrifice of those who give their lives for their country but, instead, in an odd image, the blood that unifies patriots. Never mind that traitors, tyrants, and terrorists all bleed red, too, Trump’s description of what “our soldiers will never…
Read More…jected the Vatican’s ban on contraception. Catholic women are as likely to use birth control as other women. What about their consciences? Or, for that matter, the consciences of Romney’s fellow Mormons: the LDS Church permits the use of birth control, all methods. And here’s another one: what would the reaction of the anti-Mormons in conservative-land be to a claim of violation of religious freedom by the LDS Church, should it request an exemptio…
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…rn Baptist Church upholds gracious submission as godly and relegates the abuse as “satanic,” casting them into different realms. Yet, submission and abuse should not occupy spaces so far apart in our theological imaginations, because they work together. When leaders demand unquestioning obedience from women and girls, it sets up the perfect environment for predation to occur. He was both people. I thought about the word hypocrisy: its origin is fr…
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…d me they are enraged when they pass these crosses planted on campus which use Jesus to accuse women of murdering their babies. And they are frustrated when college administrators tell them this activity is covered by academic freedom. Academic freedom leads to scholarly enquiry. So let’s examine the religious validity of fetal cemeteries. The notion that one can create a cemetery for fetuses actually highlights the fact that, the religious ritual…
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…a church. Don’t teach creationism, teach about creationism, recognize it, use it as a teaching opportunity. To not do this exacerbates the very statistics about Americans cited by Coyne; we need to do this because of those statistics. When we do, people actually learn better, see that there are usually more than simply two sides to an argument, and aren’t forced, as they currently are, to ‘take sides’ or reject ideas. Humans learn better when we…
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…America, I investigate how religious communities like Door McAllen Church use musicals to practice a form of world-building where they and their beliefs can belong. I learned that this level of adaptation is not at all uncommon among religious groups in America, and for good reason. Musicals, like many religions, are invested in the not-yet, in the could-be. With their extravagant theatrics and larger-than-life mythologies, neither is engaged in…
Read More…s into Senate offices. NOM is urging Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to use his power to keep marriage from coming to the floor for a vote. Meanwhile, Archbishop Timothy Dolan is getting increasingly shrill in his efforts to stop the shift toward equality. This week, on his official blog, he wrote: “Last time I consulted an atlas, it is clear we are living in New York, in the United States of America—not in China or North Korea. In those countr…
Read More…tify hostility and prejudice against blacks? N: Yes. B: Was this prejudice used to “protect families”? N: Yes. B: Were the same arguments used against women (family protection)? N: Yes. The danger of using religious arguments to deny rights to a certain set of people is on full display in the trial. Anti-gay religious advocates argue that they want to “protect the family” by denying marriage equality. However, it is plain that religious opposition…
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