Religion Dispatches
…he Episcopal Church,” McCain said in October 2007 of his move to the North Phoenix Baptist Church. “I came into that church, I sat down, I got the message of redemption and love and forgiveness, and it resonated with me. I found going to that church was beneficial to me in my life.” He “got” the “message of redemption.” He’s been “going” to church. These are claims of some acceptance and presence, but not the conversion or holy abjection frequentl…
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…ir multi-national, multi-racial and multi-ethnic character. That said, the numbers of nations and people that we mention are sourced solely on the claims of the groups themselves. We have no way to independently verify these numbers, so they should be used advisedly. Simply put, the global vision of the NAR is based on their understanding of the Great Commission text of Matthew 28:18-20, with an emphasis on “discipling nations” (28:19). Internatio…
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…items within their borders (as is already the case federally with lottery tickets). A Republican-controlled Congress could then impose a nationwide ban on the mailing of abortion pills or certain contraceptives. (Republican-controlled state legislatures have already demonstrated a willingness to enact questionable legislation for nothing more than its intimidation factor.) Which brings us back to Anthony Comstock. In 1878, the Supreme Court uphel…
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…ler of Hands Up United, who said she wouldn’t even give her dog unfiltered city water, feels it’s yet another form of violence inflicted upon the city’s black and brown residents. “When I think of the murder of Mike Brown, I also think of the high rates of black people around Ferguson who are getting cancer, who are born with deformities, who are getting asthma, who are experiencing all these health problems. They’re being murdered too.” “I see yo…
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…from the public. At the Lake Merritt vigil this past Monday, attendants were asked not to bring candles out of respect for those who had died in flames. Instead, they brought glow sticks and cell phones, and for several hours, the sky above the lake lit up, not in the orange, red and yellow of fire, but in eerie shades of blue. Oakland wore the color of grief….
Read More…out the rest.” A mass resignation event is scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City this Saturday where an attorney will be on hand to help. For those who live further away, there is an online guide to having one’s name removed from the record of the Mormon Church. Africa: Gay Ugandans Regret Fleeing to Kenya; Christian UN Refugee Staff Refuse to Assist The BBC’s Emmanual Igunza wrote this week about gay Ugandans who regret having fled to Kenya,…
Read More…ormon Apostle Neil Andersen, speaking at a biannual national conference in Salt Lake City, affirmed the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage. “While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not,” said Andersen, an Apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve, the second-highest governing body of the church, according to the AP. “He designated the purpose of marriage to go far beyond the personal satisfacti…
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…current economy. So goes the American Dream these days. A New Light on the City on the Hill It was an ironic (now almost cruel) turn in the American dreamscape when Ronald Reagan set a new American imaginary on a “shining city on a hill” that he remembered, with perhaps more glimmer than light, from the “Sermon on the Mount” of Matthew’s gospel. There, after the long inventory of blessings upon the poor, the hungry, and the peacemakers (which make…
Read More…ccurred to me it would be a very easy to make hajj from there. I bought an airline ticket and was in contact with the family of one of my graduate school friends. They would pick me up from the airport and host me during my stay and the days of ritual. Nice plan. So I went to the embassy to get the visa and was denied because (as an American) I needed proof that I was Muslim. How do I prove I have been a practicing Muslim for a decade? I went to t…
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…ual recompense. In the video message that was played before my last United Airlines flight, you expressed your desire to greet each and every passenger; you invited us to sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. If I could greet you now, I would want to know: were you unaware of the monstrosity that was about to follow? There, rising above the hiss of the pressurized air, as the video monitors snapped to the image of an engorged sun bursting from be…
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