Religion Dispatches
…meaning and purpose are less self-evident than they once were. Although in Canada and the U.S. we have the freedom to choose what to believe in, it’s not always clear what we should believe in. Granted, not all experience the West as disenchanted, but experiences of suffering and despair (addiction being one of many) can make a person sense acutely that they lack meaning in their life. AA members often say that they came to the program to stop dri…
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…tion of the magnetic north changes every year. It is currently in northern Canada and moving towards Russia at 40 miles per year. (The magnetic south pole is also moving in Antarctica.) So unless one wants to move Mecca at a similar speed, it may have a hard time keeping whatever alignment Youssef al-Qaradawy is talking about. The urge on the part of some to show Mecca’s specialness in a scientific idiom has nothing to do with actual science. Ther…
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…ting those histories that would undermine this self-conception. Writing of Canada, Klassen delineates how the Christian violence at the settler-state’s founding has been suppressed in favor of remembrances that support contemporary conceptions of Canada as always already harmoniously multicultural. She emphasizes that civic secularism always operates locally, clinging to some stories and tuning out others. A key civic ideal in the Netherlands is t…
Read More…l? Polygamy isn’t any more “dangerous to society” than gay marriage, which Canada has deemed acceptable for society. Consenting adults enter into a union that they feel fits their preferences, religion, or both. Full disclosure: I am personally opposed to polygyny (which is how polygamy is usually manifested). But I think we’re all missing the silver lining in polygamy legalization: If polygamy is legalized, then those entering into polygamous mar…
Read More…mmad Institute for Space Science, wants to build a space-launch complex in Canada. All of these stories coming in close proximity to one another can only mean one thing: the stealth jihad to creep shari’ah into space is starting. Following the mental gymnastics of one Minister Bradlee Dean, I will prove that Muslims are attempting to subvert not just the Constitution of the United States, but the natural order of the universe. They are trying put…
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…breaks the mold in terms of geography and football knowledge. She is from Canada, not the American South, and before I started attending the University of Florida as a doctoral student in religion, she had never been concerned with anyone’s “throwing accuracy,” nor would she have known that it is tough for a running quarterback to make it in the passing-dominated NFL. She is, though, an evangelical Christian and that qualifies her for Tebowmania—…
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…Ban Ki Moon presented a UN “Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism.” Canada has announced the creation of an Office of the Community Outreach and Counter-radicalization Coordinator, which “will provide leadership on Canada’s response to radicalization to violence.” CVE is being presented as a kinder, gentler way to “get at the roots” of the problem by moving beyond security-focused counterterrorism toward a more broad-spectrum approach. New…
Read More…t might away three Russian gay couples who will get married next month in Copenhagen as part of a three-day lead-in to the Eurovision song contest commemorating 25 years since Denmark began recognizing same-sex civil partnerships. Putin administration officials are reportedly backing a new bill that would create a national database with fingerprint information for people with infectious diseases like HIV. The rules would apply to Russians and to f…
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…meaning and purpose are less self-evident than they once were. Although in Canada and the U.S. we have the freedom to choose what to believe in, it’s not always clear what we should believe in. Granted, not all experience the West as disenchanted, but experiences of suffering and despair (addiction being one of many) can make a person sense acutely that they lack meaning in their life. AA members often say that they came to the program to stop dri…
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…get into because the drugs would be given away and are legal in Mexico and Canada. This kind of civil action, I don’t even know if it’s civil disobedience—would be like the old Jane Collective. This would be Jane with drugs as opposed to Jane with forceps. As you think through these ideas, how much are you drawing on CCS and Judson’s role pre-Roe? I was involved in CCS as a seminary intern in Chicago. I got arrested for counseling women about how…
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