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America, the Mythical: “Mother of Exiles” or Denier of Safe Haven?

…ian, but in many ways we have made the pilgrims themselves characters in a new faith. The New England settlers constitute both the Genesis and Exodus of the American scripture. The pilgrims are celebrated as the originators of the American ideal, embodying religious liberty, thrift, industriousness and individuality. Historical fact is secondary to mythical power. The Mayflower leader and first governor of the Plymouth Colony William Bradford, amo…

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Has American Conservatism Abandoned the Christian Right?

…s decline since the 1960s—when Goldwater and Weyrich set the stage for the New Right and the Christian Right to merge into the Moral Majority of the 1980s. In their new book The Flag and the Cross, Samuel Perry and Yale sociologist Philip Gorski argue that Christian nationalists have a certain understanding of the country’s founding and history. Here’s how they summarize it in a recent op-ed at the Washington Post: America was founded as a Christi…

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Anti-Gay Forces On Offense in Europe; ‘African Islam’ Challenged by Extremists; Irish Marriage Foes & ‘Sounds of Sodomy’; Global LGBT Recap

…ession. Vietnam: New Law Drops Ban on Same-Sex Couples Marrying “Vietnam’s new marriage law, which went into effect New Year’s Day, abolished regulations that ‘prohibit marriage between people of the same sex,’” write Bloomberg’s John Boudreau and Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen. “Same-sex marriages can now take place, though the government does not recognize them or provide legal protections in cases of disputes. The government abolished fines that were impo…

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Occultism and New Age Take Off in Iran: An Interview with Alireza Doostdar

…, I realized something that surprised me even more: I had assumed that the New Age was new to Iran in the 21st century; but in fact, its European esotericist precursors had been around for at least a century earlier. And so I examined what I believe to be the beginnings of European-imported spirituality: French Kardecist Spiritism in the early twentieth century, and a number of other currents that emerged around the same time (Theosophy, mesmerism…

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Televangelist Watchdog May Be Forced to Close Its Doors

…ssisted the Senate Finance Committee with an investigation of possible tax code violations by televangelists, Trinity has seen less media coverage, and hence fewer donations from the public, according to the letter. Trinity’s investigations for the Senate Finance Committee led the Committee to launch an investigation, in 2007, based on revelations that televangelists had used tax-exempt funds for luxury cars, private jets, mansions, and even plast…

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Mitt’s Jesus, Barack’s Jesus, and Why Christ’s Color Matters

…in American society that images of Christ are not the real issue, but just code for broader sets of values for particular groups? Paul Harvey: The fact that the white Jesus was in the stained glass window of 16th St. Baptist emerged from a long history in which the image of Jesus represented, in one sense, racial and class structures deeply embedded in American society. That’s why that image, and not some other, was there in the window in the firs…

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In Russia It Is Now a Crime to Insult Someone’s Religious Feelings

…his topic last fall, and as the initiative was recently passed, there is renewed interest in the Russian media and blogosphere. Аccording to the just passed redaction of article 148 of the Russian Criminal Code, “public acts expressing manifest disrespect for society and carried out with the goal of insulting the feelings of religious believers” could bring fines of up to 300,000 rubles (over $9000) or up to a year of imprisonment, or fines of up…

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Do Not Attack the Writer

…dismay turned to laughter when I saw immediately below Winters’ screed the code of conduct for comments on National Catholic Reporter. His post is a primer on violating NCR’s own rules for respectful conversation. Maybe someone at NCR can give him a much-needed tutorial. NCR Comment code: Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Use appropriate language. Avoid vulgarities and slurs. Keep to the point. Deliberat…

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Spiritual Envy: Michael Krasny’s Agnostic Quest

…with breaking away from what I was anchored in, and trying to find my own code. But it was a code that was birthed from parents who were strong believers in a higher set of ways of living your life. And that’s what they bequeathed to me. So precious. Do you think that some people are just better at religion than others? Christopher Isherwood talks about the idea of the “religious genius.” Do you think that’s possible? Why not? It makes sense. I t…

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Will Religion Solve the Obesity Crisis?

…, of course, amounts to more than quick decisions: it involves cultivating new routines, bodily habits, and values. The Daniel Plan, with its daily calorie trackers and networks of support, probably help practitioners do this same work.  These findings are new, and we should be careful not to extrapolate a few synapses into big ideas about religion in general. At the very least, though, we can try thinking of Rick Warren the next time we face choc…

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