Religion Dispatches
…ed order, but it’s nothing new. Seen it. Heard it. Bored by it. If I want to see some interesting technique, I can always watch “Holmes on Homes,” and if I want to get outraged, maybe there’ll be a “Bridalplasty” rerun on. But if I want to be surprised by politics tonight, I won’t bother with the president. Not Paul Ryan, either. I’ll tune in for Michele Bachmann‘s response to the SOTU. That woman will say anything….
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…ishops were not so keen, mildly. Andrew M.L. Dietsche, Episcopal Bishop of New York, reaffirmed what he called “basic principles of the Christian faith”: the equality and dignity of all people, welcoming the stranger, compassion and relief of the poor, and a commitment to non-violence. Newark Bishop Mark Beckwith gave perhaps the firmest Episcopal note of dissent, articulating a calling to be prophetic in the face of “Othering.” Episcopalians and…
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…raged to embrace a self-less spirituality in which, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20). It is religious life as the Vatican would have it. For all the feel-good efforts of the day, this presentation gave me the distinct impression that the speaker may have gone a little off script to distance herself from the aggregate. In so doing, she tried to position the CMSWR as the future and LCWR as the past—despite the fa…
Read More…tor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, a virulent anti-gay crusader, who we have reported on before. The ruling is interesting on both sides. The majority ruled that the question of whether or not to grant gays and lesbians marriage equality cannot be voted on by the population at large because such a vote would violate the District’s Human Rights Act. The majority wrote that the District Council: was not obliged to allow initiative…
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…the underlying reason. For many this is ancient history, irrelevant to the lives they live now. But for others who understand the stakes, that Riverside speech still points the way to the only possible human future: one in which human beings matter more than property and profits, one in which we finally reckon with the catastrophic costs of militarism and racism, and one in which each of us is liberated from a violence so pervasive that we may not…
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…had come to accept their birth gender, were geared to give hope to those struggling with their gender identity and seeking change to live a “biblical lifestyle,” which constituted heterosexual marriage or celibacy. Andrew Marin, founder of evangelical-based The Marin Foundation has been working for over ten years to build a bridge between the religious and GLBT communities through scientific research, as well as biblical and social education. In h…
Read More…” think. It’s hard for educated urban dwellers to appreciate how small the rural world can be. At times, it’s as stifling and conformist as a Thomas Hardy novel. Critical thinking is discouraged because it upsets the long-term relationships by challenging the community ideology. For some people, even mainstream sources of information become suspect. One woman in our church decided that she didn’t trust doctors. She preferred to see Amish healers i…
Read More…ngs. By the time I started visiting my mom with my own children, my sister lived on her own. When my mom became ill and could not keep up the homestead, she went to live with my sister until her death. It was not long before my mother died that I finally came to live somewhat close—a two hour’s drive—to my extended family. Then it was possible to visit more easily. I saw my sister whenever I went to see my mother, but we never made much effort bey…
Read More…ne where others can live in a life of such quality as we want for ourselves. That is the golden rule and I am still waiting for it to be the rule we live by instead of living by some one’s rule(s)….
Read More…Meanwhile, her family was a refuge, even if they didn’t all agree with her new views. This is the true tragedy, that Christianity discourages critical thinking, and abandons its people just when they need their community the most. But, wait! That’s not true. There are plenty of traditional Christian churches who would never have me as their pastor, because I don’t believe the majority of what orthodox Christianity says I must believe. For instanc…
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