Religion Dispatches
…e more likely to feel a sense of stigma, highest among those living in the south. For instance, 57 percent of U.S. respondents said they felt they would suffer at least minor social repercussions in the workplace if they came out as an atheist, compared to only 35 percent of respondents in Canada, 24 percent of Australians, 15 percent of residents of United Kingdom, and 12 percent of Western Europeans. The post sparked a great discussion in the co…
Read More
…s.” The view that gun ownership is a Christian duty, rooted in the overlap between Reconstructionism and the survivalist/militia movement, has become common in both. In his “Bring Your Pieces to Church” Sunday essay, Reconstructionist Joel McDurmon makes this point, suggesting that believers should organize target practice after church: Christians should be aware that the use of force in preservation of life is a biblical doctrine (Ex. 22:2–3; Pro…
Read More
…ur Glass clearly felt that you could be “too happy” (perhaps ‘serene’ is a better word for the state he wished to cultivate). Buddy swerved from that path. Perhaps. Oh this happiness is strong stuff. It’s marvelously liberating. I’m free, I feel, to tell you exactly what you must be longing to hear now. That is, if as I know you do, you love best in this world those little beings of pure spirit with a natural temperature of 125, then it naturally…
Read More
…elievers and others) could live as neighbors. An accomplishment not won by better theology nor a love of peace, but because each lacked the ability to oppress one another by controlling the government. We have created a land where church and state are separated to protect them from one another, not to diminish the role of either. The integrity of the church is jeopardized when politicians can appeal to spiritual leaders and gain their endorsement…
Read More…ious rage. Over at the Huffington Post, they have debuted a new discussion between religion and science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science continues to seek dialogue between science and religion. University of Colorado psychologist Tor D. Wager grew up in the Church of Christ, Scientist and is now a scientist trying to explain the placebo effect — including religious healing. In July, Boston’s World Future 2010 conference…
Read More…ouse homosexuality, I can see the Bible being banned in the military.” The Southern Baptist Convention has also turned its attention to the gulf oil spill. The SBC is urging churches to get involved in the clean up and to hold both government authorities and big oil responsible. Questions of Christianity and feminism continue to haunt the Tea Party and the Republicans this week. Is South Carolina’s Nikkie Haley Christian enough for the evangelical…
Read More…e groups, DeMar also has a companion organization that can raise money and promote candidates for elected office: Vision to America. Yesterday, Vision to America sent a fundraising appeal in support of Nevada’s Republican nominee to the U.S. Senate, Sharron Angle, from South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint’s political action committee, the Senate Conservatives Fund. Like Rand Paul in Kentucky, DeMint is bucking the Republican establishment by endorsin…
Read More…sionaries—two American, three Peruvian—were killed by leftist guerillas in South America in 1989, 1990, and 1991.) The globalization of the Church brings new pressures to our concept of who we Mormons are and what constitutes moral and humane behavior in the contemporary world. We are now a religious tradition that is home not only to Russell Pearce, the author of Arizona’s immigration law SB 1070, but also to Anglo and Latino Mormon activists…
Read More
…both, played with equal fervor by farm boys in Indiana and gang bangers in South Central. And not only did he survive in the wilds of Los Angeles, he thrived, voted by the Sporting News in 2009 as the greatest coach of all time. As a young Muslim kid growing up in Toronto in the 1970s, I had very few Muslim role models. One of them was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Coach Wooden’s 7-foot-2-inch center at UCLA. In learning more about Kareem (born Lew Alcindo…
Read More
My partner and I moved from Atlanta to South Carolina not too long after the Episcopal Church ordained Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop. Since we were embarking upon a new life in a new place, we decided to check out the Episcopal churches in the area. I sent an email to the rector of the church in the town we would be moving to and asked him if his church was welcoming to gays and lesbians. His response was one that Ted Haggard would…
Read More