Religion Dispatches
…n sacred and profane, “right” and “wrong,” is blurred. But capital remains central. But what of the more complex arrangement that actually frames the notion of karma or “right action”? In the show, karma is plucked out of Buddhism: No mention of the “four noble truths” and the relationship between suffering and desire. Earl crosses things off his list, but what of the surrender of desire through the eight-fold path? Yes, there are ways in which th…
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…hinged on which part of the Bible Warren had in mind when he invoked “the [central] role of government” as “the punishment of evildoers” (again, I’ll come back to that pesky but powerful word). There has been a general consensus, one that Warren’s PR office seems to have confirmed, that the Reverend had Paul’s famous comment in Romans 13 in mind, the one where the Apostle to the Gentiles counsels Christians to “submit” to secular authorities in th…
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…some who reside in the Mount Vernon School District in conservative south-central Ohio. Last December she and her husband Steve accused a popular 8th-grade science teacher, John Freshwater, of using an electrostatic device known as a Tesla coil to brand a cross into Zachary’s arm [see image above]. They say the burn, which in photos show an 8-by-4-inch mark on his forearm, raised blisters, kept their son awake that night, and lasted for several w…
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…lite. People’s participation in social and political transformation is the central issue of our time. This can only be achieved through the establishment of societies which place human worth above power, and liberation above control. In this paradigm, development requires democracy, the genuine empowerment of the people. When this is achieved, culture and development will naturally coalesce to create an environment in which all are valued, and eve…
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…a girl you loved her and felt the faint nausea of eroding conviction? The central doubt in the story belongs to Sister Aloysius. She became a nun after her husband was killed in World War II, and it’s clear that she saw in the Church the stability, the certainty, that his death took from her. After years in her order she’s beginning to see the cracks in the foundation. She’s irritated by the lack of discipline reflected in Father Flynn (and with…
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…ing: The world is a mess. Violence in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia threatens to further destabilize regions where chaos breeds religious extremism. The deep roots of the current economic crisis—a global economy powered by fossils fuels and unsustainable American and American-style consumerism—must be carefully but decisively eradicated. And a pernicious but largely unreported militarism at the leading edge of science needs to…
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…e for an astonishing double life participating in covert operations of the Central Intelligence Agency throughout his career. The story of the reinvention of the religious identities of two presidents and their faith-based political strategy could be easily obscured amidst Family of Secrets’ revelations of the Bush family ties to such murky matters as Watergate and the Kennedy assassination (see sidebar). But Baker’s discussion of how a prominent…
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…the religious right played the same role in maintaining nearly 30 years of Republican hegemony that the labor movement once played in maintaining Democratic hegemony. The religious right is now in some considerable disarray, though by no means disabled. What better time, and what better way, for religious progressives to help spur a big turn in our politics than to lend some help right now in restoring the central role of a progressive labor movem…
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…ble finding doctors who will write them a prescription for lethal drugs. A central Washington man diagnosed with pancreatic cancer asked his doctors for the drugs, but not one would approve his request. Stephen Wallace died on April 8, after what his family said was a painful struggle that could have been avoided had doctors respected his wishes. “Patients need professional medical support for their choice, not abandonment at their moment of need,…
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…reader of my book will see. Adams, in her book, makes the problem of evil central to Christian theology, and represents the incarnation and crucifixion as God’s solution to the problem. It’s written in an academic style and sometimes gets a bit heavy with the technical language of theology and philosophy of religion, but for anyone interested in really engaging with the problem of evil from within the context of Christian theology, this book is i…
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