Religion Dispatches
…tion to have anything to do with Him. And, after enough of that, I wanted out. Out of the guilt and endless hand-wringing; a way to throttle that judgmental monster of my mind, to tell him to take a life-long time-out in the corner, euthanize him or expel him, deport or detain him—anything to give me some peace. I’d had enough of the questions, the doubts, the self-incrimination, the endless feelings of unworthiness, the inability to find myself i…
Read More…claims against the accommodation.) The argument wasn’t over, though, without a kosher butcher analogy. This one was raised by Justice Samuel Alito, who pointed to a Danish effort that would close kosher and halal slaugherhouses through a law that would ban killing an animal without stunning it first. Verrilli described that law as “targeted” at religion in a way the ACA is not. But, Verrilli noted, the contraception benefit is different, as is th…
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…ed: they couldn’t facilitate bribery. We would have to buy new, full-price tickets to Iran. On the phone with JetBlue’s customer service line that night, my righteous fury dissipated quickly. Could JetBlue really be to blame for bad weather, or a mechanical problem, or whatever system error had made our flight impossible? Don’t I benefit regularly from this massive travel infrastructure that, like Lady Justice, doles its punishments out blindly? I…
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…s because of its apparent production by the Cuban government, which distributed tickets to friends. Morosi recognizes religious moods can be manufactured for diverse political ends and are thus not to be entirely trusted. But he has great faith in what he believes this particular sporting contest represents—freedom and the American Dream. And that is why, from behind the wheel of a 1950s Chevy, one taxi driver told me something I’d heard other Cub…
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…o the Tabernacle on Temple Square to wait in the stand-by line for last-minute tickets. Instead they were met by church spokesperson Ruth Todd, who said, “This is no surprise to you, that we won’t be able to offer you a ticket or a place.” Then, as men and boys strode past them into the Tabernacle where they awaited the opportunity to move to the Conference Center where the session would take place, members of Ordain Women lined up individually o…
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…flight was cancelled. So there’s a discrepancy between the inputs and the outputs, there’s a sense of injustice and unfairness—that’s why compensation is so important. That’s also why dissatisfied customers at restaurants want to get their dish for free, or get a free glass of wine, or a free dessert, because that balances out the input-output equation. So if the customer service agent gives you something, then you feel compensated, then you’re ok…
Read More…vent was canceled. North England Conference’s camp meeting will continue, but without Michael Carducci in attendance. UK: Gay Muslims under pressure; Vicar praises drag queens; N. Ireland parties vary on LGBT BuzzFeed’s Hussein Kesvani profiles gay Muslims who are in living in straight marriages due to family and religious pressure. Although the men acknowledge they have same-sex inclinations, they are reluctant to identify themselves as “gay”. Ho…
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…sed, think of all this? It’s impossible to know for certain (at least without a high-quality Ouija board). But the Warrens would probably not have been bothered by this strange conflation of Catholic traditionalism and occult paraphernalia. Despite the Warrens’ constant warnings of the dangers of the occult, they often seemed to contradict their own advice. Lorraine believed she could read auras, see into the past and future, and once said she exp…
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…self-interrogation boiled, my hand extended to the right. I reached for my phone, but I found nothing. At first I laughed at my instinct, my muscle memory. The phone, with its glowing screen, gave me solace and control. But I was tied to my cushion for another hour, and in this ashram for another day, so email would have to wait. I panicked. My heart raced. Would my editor be asking for me? Would a reply from that politician’s secretary sit unansw…
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…y from Victorian sentimentalism. Such angels are on sale at reduced price; cheap wares for cheap faith. It would be an error, however, to fully dismiss pop culture angels. Despite the fact that representations of angels in film and television, comics and music, paperback novels and posters, are filtered through market concerns, such pop culture can still speak to human meaning—and because of that they merit our attention. Besides, the bulk of art…
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