Religion Dispatches
…s become an important community for them. “It has now become more acceptable for people to state that they are questioning or no longer religious” says Hashman. “We are dedicated to free inquiry and freedom of expression, and that can come off as abrasive, but we believe it necessary for a free and democratic society.”…
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…iament, despite a petition signed by the witches. While witches were still free to advertise in newspapers, this came as a blow. An elderly witch stated, “This makes me feel like I am back in communist times.” Driving this legislation was Romania’s intention to join the European Union. In fact, when the witches were unable to stop the ban by democratic means, they threatened to use their magic to keep Romania from joining NATO or the EU. While wi…
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…t of environmentalists, a clip from the O.J. Simpson trial, footage from a free yoga class in Union Square, and bulleted lists about the medicinal uses of hallucinogenic drugs. Filmmaker David Lynch describes how he first started meditating; actress Ellen Page reminisces about the month she spent “shoveling goat shit” at an eco-village following the release of Juno. One of the more interesting interviews in the film is with mycologist Paul Stamets…
Read More…ascertain cumulative numbers. Military officials say the government is not promoting the change in the chaplain corps. Instead religious leaders who recruit for the military attribute it to factors including the general shortage of Catholic priests, the liberal denominations’ discomfort with military interventions abroad, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay men and lesbians, and evangelicals’ broad support for the military. One bit there jum…
Read More…tablishment Clause. He concludes: Surely we can find a way not to play off newly invented individual rights to “marriage” against constitutionally protected freedom of religious belief and religious practice. The State’s attempting to redefine marriage has become a defining moment not for marriage, which is what it is, but for our increasingly fragile “civil union” as citizens. Marriage equality doesn’t infringe on the rights of people who oppose…
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…tisements that tell us our life is not enough without that new phone, that new gadget, that new dress. And yet the minute you purchase your phone or laptop, it is obsolete. Every six months, fashion editors tell us our entire closet is out—our clothing is disposable. Shopping is not only a lifestyle, it is a form of entertainment. Whether it is infomercials and shopping networks or makeover shows, we not only shop, we watch people shop. The act of…
Read More…long line which have gradually morphed church-state separation cases into free speech cases — for Christians, that is. In other words, whereas courts used to determine whether religious action (such as use of public school resources for a Bible club) would constitute government endorsement of religion, religious right legal advocacy has altered the jurisprudence to evaluate such questions based on whether the school’s exclusion of the Bible club…
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…hich is ultimately why we need writing and art. We need to be reminded of the spectacular ingenuity of our restless human energies, once unleashed and set free from the inquisitorial restrictions of religious institutions or post-9/11 security states. As this publication looks forward to a new year, and a new decade, I look forward to seeing more on the positive side of this sacred democratic ledger: essays that celebrate the remarkable creativit…
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…le was emphatic that Christianity was the one thing standing in the way of free market capitalism taking over the United States and ruining the morals of the citizens. He saw Christianity as providing a check on market logics. There have been times when certain forms of Christianity—that of the Transcendentalists in the 1830s and 40s, for instance—exhibited the potential for a gospel of debt forgiveness to stand in opposition to the free market. B…
Read More…, not a religious rights issue, but it gets to one of the complications of free exercise rights. Some areas of law operate vertically, let’s say, since they’re mostly self-referential and one can acquire expertise in them without much reference to other areas of law. But religious rights work horizontally, as they come into interaction, and conflict, with many other categories of law. And it’s impossible to be expert in all types of law, even for…
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