Religion Dispatches
…y the group Ordain Women as a gentle and symbolic demonstration against pervasive gender segregation in LDS Church administration and leadership. All observant men and boys over the age of 12 are eligible for ordination to the Mormon lay priesthood, and the Church’s theological, liturgical, financial, and administrative decisions are made by an exclusively-male chain of command. “I have heard from many women, ‘I see nothing wrong with the status q…
Read More…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, the same familiar, ragged gang materializing every conference—takes its place behind barricades on a small patch of grass. A stranger, upon learning that I don’t have one of the highly-coveted tickets to the Sunday Conference sessions, spontaneously offers me his last extra. Mi…
Read More…le they are still thinking in moral terms and they have not deserted their values, it is just about different issues.” It’s certainly true that some “values voters” will remain one-issue voters—especially if that issue happens to be abortion—but trends are showing there’s flexibility even on that issue. Meanwhile, among voters who say their position against abortion rights substantially determined their past votes for president, some are strongly…
Read More…onal Left Behind novels are being played out before our eyes. Pastors and evangelical leaders literally locked arms with all faiths, including Imams, in a spiritual endeavor despite the clear biblical warnings of II Corinthians 6:14… The Mormon Church is now rejoicing over the public relations success that these undiscerning evangelical leaders have handed the Mormon Church by uniting with Glenn Beck in the two events that were promoted as spiritu…
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…y objective and/or widely held norms of modesty to which healthy religious values are often addressed, I wouldn’t find it so disturbing. Were Detroit’s finest giving tickets to Speedo-clad gentlemen terrorizing Americas beaches and public pools, I think they’d have a case. I think it’s safe to say that for most people what is ultimately repugnant about the aforementioned policies in some Islamic societies today is not their religious inspiration,…
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…families, drag performances, and transgender rights, young people like Stovall provide hope. It’s also encouraging to see national figures like Seidel, author most recently of American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Religious Freedom, join the fight for LGBTQ justice at the grassroots level where the key battles are fought. If you talk to young people involved in movement secularism, it’s clear that they see racial, women’s and LGB…
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…n embrace of postmodernism, breathe life into burned-out, Bible-beat conservatism. The core message of a McLaren book is a call for Christian thought unrestrained by assumption, literalism, prejudice, or habitual faith. Still McLaren-brand reinvention is also a market product. It toots along like a happy machine. With each reinvention is a book. Some reinventions include a developmental guide or a spin-off sequel, while the latest includes an even…
Read More…er skirt. Second, it seems hypocritical: you’ll host a concern for and buy tickets to see a female performer sing songs about things that are totally haram (according to different opinions), but not if she’s wearing clothing you find inappropriate? From the artist’s point of view, it also seems like a seems like an affront. It compromises the artists’ “package deal” of music, image, and stage presence, the latter two of which sometimes include sca…
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…and keep the morticians employed as long as they pledge allegiance to the flag that wants them destroyed They saw their names listed in the telephone directory of destruction They were trained to turn the other cheek by newspapers that misspelled, mispronounced and misunderstood their names and celebrated when death came and stole their final laundry ticket” -excerpt from “Puerto Rican Obituary” by Pedro Pietri Then the lights went out and the st…
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…ipt reading room of the National Library of France, a bright, hushed room, floor-to-ceiling bookcases to my left, floor-to-ceiling windows to my right, ranks of long tables studded with wooden bookrests and velvet rolls to gently prop open the fragile parchment pages. Most of the chairs were filled with hunched-over scholars. To be admitted, I had to write ahead and state my credentials, submit to an interview, show my passport, prove myself a “sc…
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