Religion Dispatches
…been an attempt to engage with this interactive world without compromising papal authority (though as Elizabeth Drescher notes here on RD, this is a nearly impossible feat). The medium itself demands “sharing” in the form of give and take, while the power structure of the Vatican insists that religious authority is in the giving, and less so in the taking. A June 2011 video of the Pope learning to use an iPad reveals what appears to be resignation…
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…church men and women are not equal.” After hymns and prayers, Ordain Women participants walked to elm-lined Temple Square, the heart of historic Mormonism and site of the Church’s General Conference. As men and boys streamed into the Tabernacle to take their seats for the evening meeting, women waited outside to ask for permission to enter. (For video, click here.) One by one, the women stepped forward to speak with LDS Church representative Doug…
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…as funny these days. Perhaps because reality has turned bloody, for good. Pathetically, the left-wing radical magazine that once mocked left-wing radicals—as well as everyone else—has turned somewhat sour. It only seems to sell papers when it insults Muslims and plays with the lives of anonymous people (as well as its own reporters’). In today’s Le Monde, Charb, the director of Charlie Hebdo, declared: “It may sound pompous, but I’d rather die st…
Read More…Back from my Bloggingheads hiatus, I talk with Get Religion’s Mollie Hemingway about whether Mitt Romney’s plan to discuss his Mormonism tonight at the Republican National Convention benefit his candidacy: And we also discussed the significance of the fact that Barack Obama is the only Protestant on both presidential tickets: …
Read More…kissing a small Brazilian flag. Young Tongan men stand squarely in groups, palming thick books of LDS scripture, wearing tupenu—traditional calf-length linen wraparound skirts–with their white shirts and ties. Gauntlets of young locals in dark suits line walkways on the north side of Temple Square, cheerfully singing hymns from the screens of their iPhones or from green-backed hymnals, while a clutch of protestors—evangelical Christians, mostly, t…
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…that Democrats need to get better at telling stories than at crunching the numbers, in this battle of the budget, the numbers actually matter. Hell, it’s a fight about numbers. And balance. And the virtue of justice. What this latest budget battle, and the question of raising the debt ceiling, and the straw polls are revealing, is just how Tertullian a wing of the Republican Party has become. It not only offers absurd arguments with a straight fac…
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…can finances, will take longer than these first nine months of the Francis papacy. The phenomenon of a pope becoming a pop culture icon is fascinating, troubling, and not a little confusing. Here are a few of the puzzles I’m struggling with as I try to make sense of the current Catholic religious scene. 1. Pope and Papacy All of the enthusiasm about Francis’ style does not change the fact that the institutional Roman Catholic Church is a rigid hie…
Read More…of God as a gay-hating bigot, their acceptance of themselves, for the most part, has proven easier. In reality, the only reason anyone is talking about “reparative therapy” is because religious beliefs have convinced far too many people that God will damn them for eternity if they pursue their natural inclinations toward the same gender. Here’s an idea: instead of fighting about how to change gay people into straight people, let’s shift the focus…
Read More…as been reduced to a kind of majordomo or personal assistant. He fixeth my parking tickets, he secureth me a good table in the restaurant, he leadeth me to book contracts. Even in these minor tasks, the invocation of God seems more of a courtesy than a necessity.” Gone, too, from Osteen’s theology is any mention of topics that might intrude on happy thoughts: Osteen avoids using current events in his messages so he doesn’t get sidetracked in contr…
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…ction. The Kids They Dance The third way to engage the Grateful Dead is to participate. Both Hunter and John Perry Barlow, the primary lyricists for the band, implicate the Dead and their fans in the enveloping event known as a live show. This strategy has grown out of a phenomenon; that is, the appearance of an organic movement which seemed to take on a life of its own. I suppose all bands with a following do implicate their followers. And perhap…
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