Religion Dispatches
…lay readers: local Mormons who could use something besides insular, faith-promoting history; and non-Mormons outside Utah who could use an informed, even-handed historical account of life “behind the Zion Curtain.” The timing seemed right. The past ten years has been something of a Mormon moment in American media culture. Think about it: the 2002 Winter Olympics, the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping, the Warren Jeffs trial, Mitt Romney’s past and prese…
Read More
…Roof Beam, Carpenters,” is actually a quote from one of the fragments of Sappho, the Archaic Greek poetess Plato deemed “the tenth muse.” The line comes from one of Sappho’s wedding songs, which is fitting, since this one relates the story of Seymour’s engagement to a stunning beauty who seems really not to understand him (who, we are put to wonder, ever could?). Seymour calls off the wedding “because he is too happy,” and then later that evening…
Read More
…th a mass, I suppose that Waco is worth a couple of praise songs.) Starr’s appointment is not surprising because it apparently reflects the right-wing leanings of the regents, if not necessarily the faculty or the students. Starr as special prosecutor, of course, sought to bring down the Clinton administration. (Was it my imagination, or did Starr seem just a tad too interested in the tawdry Monica Lewinsky business?) Starr also has been dean of t…
Read More…opposing “Invictus.” Yes, the new movie about Nelson Mandela and the 1995 South African rugby team. They’re opposing that because, quote, “Mandela is nothing more than a communist-terrorist thug.” So, let’s review, conservative Christians demand that CPAC ditch the group that wants equality for a group of human beings – American taxpaying citizens – commonly known as gays and lesbians in marriage, housing, employment and the military – but has…
Read More…ountry; to becoming a pro-life nation again.” That’s why — in Perkins’ view — the pro-choice community is fighting so hard to include abortion coverage in health care reform, because “this is their last stand to change America in their image and promote a culture of death.” Get it? If you’re pro-choice, you’re like Herod, trying to wipe out an army of anointed ones, a battalion of Esthers — you’re a co-conspirator on a massive death panel for Chri…
Read More…strian man convinced authorities to let him take his driver’s license photo wearing a pasta strainer on his head as the religious headgear of his Pastafarianism. The Church of England may sell its $6 million share in the scandalized News Corp. Controversy continues to surround a south Indian temple and its billions in hidden treasure. In the U.S., second-generation Indian Americans are working to Americanize Hinduism. The Hill Cumorah Pageant wrap…
Read More