Religion Dispatches
…n used to justify an attack on American sites overseas? The two principles—freedom of speech and protection of American diplomats—become entangled when the internet makes possible not just the distribution but the reemergence of visual production (a movie, a clip, a trailer) at a delicate moment; in this case, the anniversary of 9/11. Beyond all the issues that have been discussed, debated, and fine-tuned since the 9/11/12 tragedy in Benghazi, one…
Read More…n probably keep its apoplexy in check over the Democratic platform. Unless Republicans and news organizations are going to start condemning the Constitution, too, demanding an explanation for its secular nature, let’s relax a bit. Indeed, the ballyhooed “purge” involves a revised section on economic opportunity, which no longer references individuals reaching their “God-given” potential. The Democratic platform does include an extensive section on…
Read More…associated with Mr. Moon in the United States. They were in keeping with a central tenet of his theology, a mix of Eastern philosophy, biblical teachings and what he called God’s revelations to him. In the church’s view, Jesus had failed in his mission to purify mankind because he was crucified before being able to marry and have children. Mr. Moon saw himself as completing the unfulfilled task of Jesus: to restore humankind to a state of perfecti…
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…wood berating what quickly became the Twitter meme #InvisibleObama was the central laugh line within and outside the house—for very different reasons—the campaign’s engagement with reality is certainly worth verifying. Second, even if it is the case that the financial arm of the Episcopal Church, the independent Church Pension Group, did invest when Bain Capital when it was formed in 1984, that doesn’t mean that they continue to hold that investme…
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…ed four in Binghamton, New York in 2009; John Allen Muhammad, the Islamic, African American “Beltway Sniper,” who, with Jamaica-born partner Lee Boyd Malvo, killed at least 10 people in the Washington DC area through the month of October 2002. Many of these shooters, regardless of race or religion, had known mental health issues. Likewise, a substantial number of the men on the Brady Campaign list were not previously identified as having psycholog…
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…o a visceral reaction to embodied religious otherness. How do we move from promoting basic facts to combatting that profane shudder of hatred? To see the horror of the killer within, of his commonality and ordinariness, and to remember that security reports have long pointed to the likelihood of many others like him, is much harder than ascribing this tragedy to “evil.” Ironically, this horror in suburban Milwaukee came just hours before the Curio…
Read More…ligious beliefs for contemporary science and then claiming their religious freedom is being violated.” Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, called the campaign “heartening, because it tells us Catholics that we are not alone.” Ninety-eight percent of Catholic sexually active women have used birth control other than church-approved methods. O’Brien argued against the idea that Catholic leaders and their allies are merely fighting for th…
Read More…the southwest to the northeast right toward the Hopi reservation in north-central Arizona. The weather pattern, called the ‘monsoon’ in Arizona, is predictable (monsoon actually comes from the Arabic word for season). Arizona’s monsoon may deposit only a few tenths of an inch of rain, but there may be 2-3 storms a week in the dry summer, just enough to water the corn at a critical time in its growth cycle. Because the Hopi plant their crops in th…
Read More…ield works its black magic through—what else?—a particle. This boson is so central to the state of physics today,” Lederman explained, “so crucial to our final understanding of the structure of matter, yet so elusive, that I have given it a nickname: the God Particle.” Lederman even cites a passage from “The Very New Testament, 11:1” that reads as follows: And the Lord came down to see the accelerator, which the children of men builded. And the Lo…
Read More…Warren Smith have been subjects of intense criticism here at RD, for their promotion of “Christian worldview” conspiracy theories, and, in Smith’s case, for his remarks that a Mormon president would be “dangerous.” I hardly thought The King’s College was a legitimate institute of higher learning before D’Souza ran it, or after. (Read an account of my visit to TKC, while it was still under Olasky’s leadership, here.) That said, WORLD has a history…
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