…alifornia, a lightly-populated, largely agricultural desert county east of San Diego, appeared as the only governmental entity in the state of California to seek standing as a proponent in the case to overturn Proposition 8. Whether or not the County has the standing to participate in the appeal is up to the panel of judges to determine. (Attorney Robert Tyler, appearing on behalf of Imperial County deputy clerk Isabel Vargas, proved himself embar…
…much beyond that. “Do I pray? Sure, you could call it that,” a woman from San Diego who described herself as “almost an atheist” told me. She continued: I sit quietly every so often during the week. I try to calm my thinking. Sometimes I’m hoping for something for myself or someone else, but I don’t have to be. I think that’s what most people mean by “prayer.” It’s not so much about “talking to God” or “saving your soul.” It’s just about settling…
…eloped the practice in 2014 while on retreat at a wildlife preserve in San Diego County. Despite conflicting claims on ownership of the term “trap yoga,” the only existing trademark is registered by Jones, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Asia Jones, creator of trap yoga She began practicing vinyasa yoga while still a college student in 2010, and became a certified instructor in 2014. Feeling out of place as the only bla…
…te A Church for Our Daughters today at the bishops’ semi-annual meeting in San Diego. The groups participating include advocates for women priests, such as the Association of Roman Catholic Womenpriests and the Women’s Ordination Conference, the Catholic LGBT equality groups DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry, the Catholic reproductive rights group Catholics for Choice, and Catholic reform organizations such as Call to Action and FutureChurch. The p…
…ciate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, and the founder of Farm Forward, met with Cubit co-editor Andrew Aghapour at a coffee shop in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to explore how religion applies to elephants, dogs, chimpanzees, and factory farming. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. As a scholar of religion, why do you think it’s wrong see religion as exclusive to humans? I think most of…
…s and neighborhoods. From Seattle and Portland, Houston and Austin, to San Diego and Birmingham, Ala., Marion advises congregations about how their buildings can belong to the broader “parishes” that surround them. Writer and musician Jesse James DeConto, who works with churches in Durham, N.C., to host a monthly Beer & Hymns sing-along at a local brewery, recently talked to Marion about how churches can offer a ministry of presence through the cr…
…d: Rachel Barenblat Congregation Beth Israel, North Adams MA Joanna Brooks San Diego State University Sharon Brous IKAR Linell Cady Arizona State University John Caputo Syracuse University Rachel Cowan George Mason University, Gary Dorrien Union Theological Seminary Eddie Glaude Princeton University Harry Knox Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Ira Lapidus University of California at Berkeley Khalid Latif New York University Kathryn Lofto…
…ch of Christian denominations working with us now.” Discussions during the phone bank covered the Golden Rule, whether the Leviticus view of homosexuality as an abomination also extended to eating shrimp, and how civil marriage licenses are distinct from religious weddings. Most of the calls lasted mere seconds, with people not home or not interested. After an hour working the phones, Scott Holley, 33, cheerfully noted that he had become “unfazed…
…the story, she returns home, opens Google India, and tracks down the phone number for the sweet shop her grandfather mentioned. Within seconds, she has called the store on her smart phone, and Yusuf’s grandson—who answers—has likewise opened Google to research visas for a reunion too long denied. We can understand the implications of this storyline by putting it into conversation with its longer historical context. The logic of the plot—that Googl…
…r pledge cards and enlist volunteers to canvass potential voters and staff phone banks. He said that the positive responses to his phone pitch for Prop 47 were an unexpected surprise. “It’s been amazing to see how many people were supporting this,” Hakim said. “There are more people that think about justice than I realized!” The momentum for collaborative Muslim faith-based activism around Prop 47 began to build earlier this year, when Jawaid and…
