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Religious Practices on Trial in Arizona: The Problem With “Experts”

By Johnny P. Flynn

…al for killing people with his “ceremony,” it is Native American religion which will be the defendant in this case. Consider. James Ray’s defense might be compelled to bring in experts to argue that he did the ceremony the right way—and to insist that occasional and “unforeseen” death is one of the by-products of American Indian religious practices. After all, those folks paid ten thousand dollars for a “Warrior Retreat,” didn’t they? And native r…

Life as a Game Show: Reading Slumdog Millionaire

By Paul Courtright

…e. Jamal’s sense of destiny does not lead him to resignation; it energizes him. His devotion to Latika provides him a polestar that enables him to navigate through the turbulent waters of the postmodern city. As far as the complaint that the movie rehashes a negative image of India, I have to disagree. The slums and corruption are a part of India, even an India Shining. But, slums and corruption are everywhere; poverty and organized crime are arti…

Does God Want Jeremy Lin to Win?

By Jay Michaelson

…sleeve. Lin, like Tebow, is a deeply religious evangelical Christian. And while his own religious utterances have been both humble and thoughtful (Lin went to Harvard, after all), the press swirling around him has led to a spate of bad theology—which is a shame, because sports stories have the ability to capture the public imagination and have the potential to inspire us to reflect on truly important religious values, instead of truly awful ones….

‘Imagine Better’: Can Harry Potter Change the World?

By B. Howell Belser

…pendent on the mechanisms of social media—than Gladwell can account for in his thin description of that phenomenon. In his article “Avatar Activism” Jenkins identifies the phenomenon of the HPA as an example of “participatory culture” whereby the innovation of “digital media has allowed many more consumers to take media into their own hands, hijacking culture for their own purposes… fans are acquiring skills and building a grassroots infrastructur…

After More Mass Shootings It’s Time to Call Out White Supremacy in the Pews

By Peter Laarman

…n culture is “exceptional”—exceptional in its toxicity, that is. A growing number of truth telling historians are eager to help us discover these deeper roots if we are willing to listen. Here I’m thinking mainly of scholars like Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Gerald Horne who focus on the connections between settler colonialism, white supremacy, and an unparalleled level of gun violence. To me the question that grows more acute daily is how to amplify…

Why Even Progressive Christianity Must Own Its Complicity in Anti-LGBT Violence

By Layton E. Williams

…hristian churches and leaders—has led to countless hate crimes, alarmingly high numbers of homeless LGBT young people, and staggering rates of depression, self-harm, and suicide among LGBT youth and adults. Of course, a growing number of churches and denominations today have rejected such a destructive understanding of human sexuality. Religion Dispatches recently compiled a list of the official positions on LGBT issues currently taught by various…

Contrary to Claims of Anti-Trans Muslims, LGBTQ+ Acceptance is Widespread in the History of Islam

By Ali Olomi

…appearance, their speech, and their movements. Rather, Allah created upon him his disposition, so this is not blameworthy for him, nor a fault, nor a sin, nor is he punished.” The nuance between affected and natural expression of gender reflects the historical reality: gender non-conforming people have been part of Islamic history from the very beginning. Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani’s Kitab al-Aghani records the lives of a number of individuals incl…

The Anti-Trans Hate Machine’s Conspiracies Don’t Stop at the US Border

By Annika Brockschmidt

…recruit more to their hateful cause. Die Welt, owned by the Springer publishing house which recently acquired Politico, faced a fierce backlash and later changed some of the wording of the headline—though claims of a shadowy trans lobby, with its clearly antisemitic undertones referring to a secretive cabal pushing what the writers perceive as sexual deviancy—still stands. Its editor-in-chief, Ulf Poschardt, a right-leaning libertarian, published…

A ‘Pro-Life’ Buttigieg Ambush, Trump’s Corrupt Counsel, and More

By Daniel Schultz

…angelist “which we consider to be incompatible with our values.” Lest you think this is strictly a Brit thing, the same article notes that Graham has also been met with protests in Florida. He’s taken the news in typical stride: In a statement to Newsweek Jan. 28, Graham said he believes he is facing discrimination because of his religious beliefs. “It is wrong for venue managers and local officials to make a decision that disadvantages Christians…

Dispatches from the Workplace: Postville: Ground Zero for the Intersection of Immigrant and Workers’ Rights

By Kim Bobo

…certainly wasn’t trying to steal someone else’s credit. He was supporting his children, wife, mother and sister. When interviewed, he wept. The day after the arrests, Postville was in chaos. Families took refuge at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church. A third of the elementary and middle-school children were absent from school, traumatizing both immigrant children and their native-born friends alike. Released mothers wore ankle GPS monitors, but had no…