Religion Dispatches
…ng our own motives and aspiring to reduce harm and suffering for the greatest number of those at risk.” Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, another notable teacher and translator in the Theravada tradition, disagreed vehemently with Bhikkhu Bodhi’s position, writing a lengthy letter to Inquiring Mind in which he outlined various objections. “The common view—that murderous force is an unfortunate but necessary last resort—is what has caused so much money, tim…
Read More
…Reproducing familiar conservative rhetoric, one of these denounces the “postmodern anti-racism” of Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory but adds a unique twist by comparing the current “police racism panic” to the “ritual panic abuses” of the 1980s. Another compares responses to structural racism, climate change, and Covid-19 to mental illness that are “wreaking havoc in Western society.” Just like Campus Reform, he turns to James Lindsay’…
Read More…t things that hardly matter, which are actually the things that matter the most. For the Irish, that means religion. “A victim’s asking for the road to Knock,” begins another great Saw Doctors’ song, referring to the famous pilgrimage site where villagers saw the Virgin Mary in the late 19th century, and where pilgrims come from around the world to await miracles. Just last year, a Dublin man named Joe Coleman gathered hundreds of believers at Kno…
Read More
…oric is imminent. The vast majority of American evangelicals interpret the most obscure books of the Bible (Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation) in a very narrow and particular way. They believe that when these three books are read in conjunction with one another and overlaid with a few of Jesus’ statements, a hidden “plan of the ages” emerges. According to their decryptions, a number of events will transpire just before the apocalypse. These include…
Read MoreEven after Mitt Romney lost, Mormon media observers felt that his campaign must have yielded a net positive for public understanding of the Mormon faith. But new data released by the Pew Forum suggests otherwise. 82% of Americans surveyed by Pew say they learned little to nothing about Mormonism during the 2012 campaign. Nearly 50% said they still know “little to nothing” about Mormonism, a proportion unchanged from 2011. And only about 40% co…
Read More…ng op-eds calling for America to return to being a “Christian nation.” Christians must be retrained to war for the Soul of America and quit believing the fabricated whopper of the “Separation of Church and State,” the lie repeated ad nauseum by the left and liberals to keep Christian America – the moral majority – from imposing moral government on pagan public schools, pagan higher learning and pagan media. But it’s just that kind of talk that’s t…
Read More
…press conference with Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Joe Pitts (R-PA), two of the most vociferous opponents of abortion rights in the House. On the Monday before the vote, DFLA participated in a STAM conference call with an array of religious right groups and the USCCB, who all called on supporters to push for nothing short of the restrictions Stupak was proposing. Day called Stupak a “hero” and pledged that pro-life Democrats would vote against the bill…
Read More…in 2003, “none of them were freaked out by the priest abuse scandal. They mostly liked and trusted their own priests, and recognized that in any organization there will always be some bad people. We saw zero evidence then that the scandal was turning teenagers away from Church.” David Clohessy, the Executive Director of SNAP (Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests), disagrees with Smith. “Generations of Catholics have been raised to respec…
Read More
…e I thought it was a pretty cool dream (especially for a napping Baptist), mostly because the woman was Adrienne Rich. With her recent death, newspapers and journals are blossoming with tributes to Adrienne Rich. They are noting that she inspired generations of women, writers and non-writers alike. They are noting her contributions to LGBT communities. These accounts are correct. Less named is Rich’s profound sense of religiosity. By a number of c…
Read More
…yst, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and author of The Most Dangerous Man in America?: Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition. He went on to say that: “The depths of the religious right’s loathing of Obama can be hard for some people to grasp. I got a taste of it during the ‘Values Voter Summit’ in September. Religious right groups will use an Obama presidency to raise more funds and spur activism. They will say…
Read More