Religion Dispatches
…or the pleasure of the men writing the laws? The next step in this sort of protest is to wear the niqab and nothing else. Then, the women will get tickets, not for being nude, but for being clothed. In my opinion, that would show the absolute absurdity of the state trying to control women’s dress. I have written elsewhere that this sort of action, of controlling a woman’s body, is simply male penis worship run amok. These ladies, who call themselv…
Read More…half. There were still probably 80 empty seats, and it was clear that some number of attendees had free tickets. The largest financial supporter of the event was a local news/talk radio station and its representatives were the only media allowed in. As I arrived with my Religion Dispatches press badge they stopped me before I even got to the door. I chatted with an AP reporter and he said AP had been trying for weeks to gain media access—but that…
Read More…sweeping financial regulatory bill.” So who do you suppose is buying high-priced tickets to these events? Well, you could get an idea about that from a profile in today’s Times on the rise and rise of corporate fixer Tony Podesta (“The Proud Lobbyist” reads the Times headline). Tony boasts that he lobbied on 25 different issues related to Wall Street regulation for major players like Bank of America. And yes, this proud lobbyist is indeed the bro…
Read More…is “God’s best.” The rich man has a message for Osteen and other positive, prosperity, preachers, and their eager followers. There’s a lot of talk these days about who’s going to hell and who will end up in heaven. Some are certain of who is going where. But, if we’re talking about what “God’s best” is really all about—I have a feeling that has little, if anything, to do with avoiding controversy, delivering folksy, God is my concierge, feel-good…
Read More…ot had to endure this kind of struggle. Certainly, they felt some societal pressures and prejudices, but for those who have not had to slay their image of God as a gay-hating bigot, their acceptance of themselves, for the most part, has proven easier. In reality, the only reason anyone is talking about “reparative therapy” is because religious beliefs have convinced far too many people that God will damn them for eternity if they pursue their natu…
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…imaginable for most Americans. Its first issue came out in 1970, after its predecessor (called Hara-Kiri Hebdo) was shut down by the French censorship bureau because of a politically blasphemous headline. General de Gaulle, former French president and World War II hero, had just passed away in his country home in Colombey-les-deux-églises a few days after 146 young people perished in a huge fire that burned down a nightclub. Hara-Kiri Hebdo had co…
Read More…h in their life proves anything about one’s sexual orientation. What this “proof” reveals is that, indeed, Foster’s problem isn’t homosexuality, but (as the title of his most recent book alludes to) sexual addiction, and gets the most bang (sorry) for his buck out of sex with men. Perhaps he has other psychological issues centering around shame or self-hatred or body image that lead him to prefer anonymous encounters over deeper, loving relationsh…
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…cation, draws all, even the most barbarian, nations into civilisation. The cheap prices of commodities are the heavy artillery with which it batters down all Chinese walls, with which it forces the barbarians’ intensely obstinate hatred of foreigners to capitulate. It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation into their midst, i.e., to become bourg…
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…ebrew letter was also a number, the letters of a name could be added up to produce that person’s number. Here’s an example of gematria using an alphabet we’re more familiar with, the Roman alphabet. Say someone’s name was Vic. Each letter in his name is also a Roman numeral. V=5, I=1, C=100. Using gematria, we find that Vic’s number is 5+1+100, or 106. So whose name adds up to 666? Most biblical scholars believe the beast was the Roman emperor Ner…
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…y, called it “experiencing the other side.” Among Jewish Americans, this approach is put into practice most often in dialogue groups and listening circles, where Jews and Palestinians begin for the first time to hear each other. That first step—really listening to the other—is hard. The second step—acknowledging that one’s own narrative, the narrative cherished by one’s family and community, is not merely mistaken but a source of injustice—is hard…
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