Religion Dispatches
…this series—though it goes far beyond that. In this dialectic of religious freedom and unfreedom, embattled ethno-religious communities actually deployed the American tradition of religious liberty (as well as their own spiritual practices and sacred writings) to compel redefinitions of freedom, autonomy, and the rights of citizenship. The discourse of American freedom, then, could lead to very different ends than envisioned by the Anglo–Protestan…
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…magic popcorn in the aisles. Traveling and singing throughout the Jim Crow South that refused to serve traveling black musicians like Walker and Burke, he sold pork chop sandwiches to other musicians on tour. His prodigious family of 21 children, 90 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren testifies to his love of both scripture and women. Joking about his love of women, he said: “I just got stuck on that bible verse that said be fruitful and mul…
Read More…the money, youth (at least the white youth) and positivity have all moved south, away from the Cathedral and right into the heart of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church territory. Nor has there been a successful transition from Schueller to a next generation of Cathedral leadership. In the last year, church revenues have dropped 30%, 140 employees have been laid off, and its opulent Easter pageant (which once drew hundreds of thousands) was cancelled…
Read More…its second mass wedding of the year. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon married 7,200 South Korean and foreign couples. The end of the world might be farther off than once expected, at least according to the Mayan calendar. From Qumran to dot-com: the Israel Antiques Authority and Google are working together to digitize the Dead Sea Scrolls and make them available to the public. Finally, did the Berenstain Bears become practicing Christians? *This post has b…
Read More…AFA of Michigan, similar to another AFA effort in Iowa, where its Iowa for Freedom (headed by Huckabee’s 2008 Iowa state campaign chair, Bob Vander Plaats) is waging a campaign to oust state Supreme Court judges over their votes declaring the state’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional. Vander Plaats’ campaign, as well as the AFA’s “hate-filled comments,” prompted a denunciation by the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa. Earlier this year, back in Michigan…
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…rticipants—a total of 25,000 every October—on a 90-minute walk through the South Georgia woods. We observed intensely violent renditions of standard end-times scenarios: the rapture of believers; an ensuing period of torture and tribulation for the faithless “left behind”; a climactic battle between Jesus and Satan; and a final judgment in which Jesus orders a teenage church-girl to be dragged by demons into hell for “knowing me only in your head,…
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…nt either. It is popular in parts of Muslim Africa, and in parts of Muslim Southeast Asia, but almost unheard of in the Gulf region, and in South Asia. Clearly there is more to it than religious interpretation, especially when it goes from a symbolic cutting of the tip of the clitoris to a more invasive removal of the labia major. Cutting itself has no purification value, ever, anywhere, in the rituals of purification; so clearly this is outside o…
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…gn” enemies to fear. On the domestic side, the list comes too easily: hate Indians, hate blacks, hate Jews, hate anarchists, hate war protestors, hate government, hate the North, hate the South, hate the gays…. Aside from the raw political value of hate, think of the potential for media exposure when you are a religious hater. When the Dalai Lama comes to town (to start with a counter-example) with monks, cultural activities, and lectures, the fun…
Read More…ress. Tim Scott will be the first African-American Republican to represent South Carolina in Congress since Reconstruction. (He beat out Strom Thurmond’s son in the primaries.) Iraq war veteran Allen West will be headed to Congress from Florida, despite having been fined for improperly firing his weapon to force information from a detainee while serving in Iraq, and for his connections to a criminal motorcycle club. West’s acceptance speech was pe…
Read More…claims the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would jeopardize the religious freedom of chaplains who believe homosexuality is sinful, so I wanted to ask a living, breathing chaplain what he thought about that claim. “Well,” he began, “we serve whoever comes to us. I don’t think it will be a big deal. There may be some who will have a problem with it, but we’re trained to treat it like any other sin.” He must have seen me roll my eyes involuntarily….
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