Religion Dispatches
Neither I nor my spouse plans to run for president, so I can say this out loud: it has been quite a while since I felt a pure and uncomplicated pride in being an American. But this morning, riding my bike to school through the crisp autumn air, I found lines from the Gettysburg Address cycling through my mind. More importantly, I felt myself really believing them, deeply and emotionally affirming “that this nation, under God, shall have a new bir…
Read More…Eddington had the resources to chart an expedition in two locations—one in Brazil, another on the West African island of Principe, off the coast of Guinea—in the path of a complete solar eclipse that was to occur on May 29th, 1919. There, on the warm waters of the south Atlantic, Einstein’s theory was to face its Experimentum crucis, its possibly fatal test. Two decades later, Eddington would write in his book The Philosophy of Physical Science th…
Read MoreAt a recent Jesuit-sponsored conference in Brazil focusing on the first five years of Pope Francis’ papacy, scholars waxed poetic about papal documents, quoting chapter and verse, claiming that this papacy is different from every other. Some speakers seemed far removed from the Catholicism that is unraveling throughout the world. Australia leads the way with its highest-ranking prelate set for trial on sex abuse crimes. Cardinal George Pell holds…
Read More…ntity. The first Jewish settlers in North America, Sephardim who came from Brazil in 1654 in search of religious freedom, set the stage for later immigrations. They built their first synagogue so as not to attract attention to themselves, thus seeking a private sphere in which to preserve their religion. It was in recognition of this right to free worship that George Washington wrote his famous 1790 letter to the Rhode Island Jews after visiting t…
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…d discussed. They support peace building, seek to end human suffering and “promote the shared interests of humanity.” Now they are taking on religious and traditional practices that harm women. On the Elders’ website they “call on men and boys—and particularly religious and traditional leaders—to change harmful and discriminatory practices against women and girls.” Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former president of Brazil says “the idea that God i…
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…of Cuba, and overlapping or altogether different influences in the case of Brazil and other Latin American countries) as well as its syncretism with Catholic influences. I’m also interested in where and why the practice is either hidden or open. For example, even though it was ostracized at its inception when it was practiced by slaves centuries ago, Santería practice is not hidden in contemporary Cuba. Have you chosen to engage in the practice yo…
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…Ho neighborhood; conversed with high school students in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil; and convened a series of workshops with the Mohawk Council of Akwesanse on the US/Canadian border. These journeys were originally inspired by a series of conversations he had in a language exchange group while he was working on his Arabic skills in Cairo. Over time, Fraenkel’s devout Muslim interlocutors became concerned about the state of his soul; fearing its eter…
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…ies. The Need for Collective Self-Esteem Unlike Third World countries like Brazil, India, and China, many Muslim-majority societies traded their organic traditions for authoritarian states that have brought little economic benefit or sense of dignity. (At least a Chinese citizen can reconcile an absence of political freedoms with an obvious escape from poverty). Egypt is, in this sense, the most excellent example. Hosni Mubarak has presided over t…
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…e launch of the ACLJ’s Brazilian branch and the growing political power of Brazil’s evangelical minority which is resisting efforts to expand legal protections for LGBT people; Queiroz wrote recently in RD about the selection of an anti-gay Pentecostal minister as the head of the Brazilian House of Representatives’ Human Rights and Minorities Commission. *The above article originally indicated that a screening took place at IHOP. The screening t…
Read More…democracy in a given country can be assessed in part by how the government promotes or hinders the rights of its sexual and gender minorities. This is evident from both the advances and setbacks in LGBT human rights around the world in recent years. It is no accident that the prominence of openly lesbian and gay people in the anti-apartheid struggle led South Africa to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation when drafting its constitut…
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