Religion Dispatches
…machines dispensed something closer to my U.S. limit. I’m sorry, but in almo*]}*st 40 years of travel to 40 countries, I have only once used travelers checks. They are supposed to be better protected. You can get them 100% replaced if lost or stolen, but only if you first write down each and every serial number. Then you have to keep this information somewhere that’s not the same somewhere you keep the checks. But then they really do NOT spend just l…
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…de Catholicism less vibrant”: Over time, the Democratic Party has become almo*]}*st exclusively pro-choice: Even by 1992, the Catholic, pro-life Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey Sr. was shut out of speaking at Bill Clinton’s Democratic National Convention, and allegedly because of his efforts to restrict abortion in Pennsylvania. This sense of ideological homelessness is arguably responsible for the loss of distinctive Catholic identity among politicia…
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…nk, maybe the connection is out there somewhere. There is no scientific quest more religious than the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. But this outward search is, on a certain level, guaranteed to bring us back where we are. To illustrate, let us perform an interesting thought experiment. Let us place ourselves on Gliese 591g and turn those same telescopes around and observe us observing the universe. What a strange, strange sight. What a…
Read More…is paragraph: On Thursday [Glenn] Beck warned that the march included Marxist, Communist and revolutionary groups. Among the organizations endorsing the march were the Communist Party USA, the United Church of Christ, Jewish Funds for Justice, the National Urban League, the National Baptist Convention, People for the American Way and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. My first reaction to this was to wonder why the Times is acting as Glenn B…
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…se minority religions associated with it. In regards to the season itself, most evangelical churches will offer alternatives to church members, usually called “fall festivals,” since even using the term “Halloween” is frowned upon. At fall festivals kids will more or less do what other kids do on Halloween, though they’ll be costumed as Bible characters in an effort to present it as a distinct alternative. The rationale here, of course, is that Ha…
Read More…capitalized on it to promote the “friendly neighborhood” variety. In fact, most of us lost and lost a great deal. That being said, I do however condemn terrorism. But I am not selective. I do not just condemn terrorism done by fellow Muslims; I condemn terrorism done against fellow Muslim—whether as a civil act of disobedience, or as a collective act of a powerful government. And because my condemnation of terrorism sits right there beside my cond…
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…stematic violence. It intends to silence and to destroy from within. While most of us will never be physically attacked by another human being, all of us know we are targets. A Theology of Anti-Gay Bullying Anti-gay bullying is a theological issue because it has a theological base. I find it difficult to believe that even those among us with a vibrant imagination can muster the creative energy to picture a reality in which anti-gay violence and bu…
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…t’s a scandal that calls into question the moral standing and integrity of most—not all—Catholics today,” Marquette University moral theologian Dan Maguire told RD. To many, Catholic support for Trump feels like a repudiation of the Catholic social justice tradition. “Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric and consequent election are rooted in fear and hate. This approach violates the gospel and Jesus’ commitment to the poor and marginalized. It threate…
Read More…gion would be positive for the country. Not surprisingly, churchgoers were most gung-ho about religion’s beneficial impact. But “over half of those who seldom or never attend [services] and close to one in the three Americans who say religion is not important to them personally still say it would be positive for society if more Americans were religious.” What planet do these Americans live on? Here in the U.S., religious fervor is at the center of…
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…e Bakker’s Evangelical Empire John Wigger Oxford UP August 2017 What’s the most important take-home message for readers? PTL helps to explain the persistent connections between religion and popular culture in American life, a connection that runs deeper than politics alone. PTL grew so quickly because of its embrace of consumer and celebrity culture, much of it through the prosperity gospel, but along the way the money and fame undermined the reli…
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