Religion Dispatches
…way from the hard work of repentance, who tickle our ears with promises of cheap grace, and offer a vision of the cross of Jesus that has nothing to say to the crosses, and lynching trees, of history. But, if we do, we will be settling for the gospel of Caesar, not the good news of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is time to put down the chalk, stop drawing pyrotechnical conspiracy theories that play into our worst fears and listen, instead, for the diffi…
Read More…has withdrawn its companion legislation. According to Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville Sentinel, the Senate bill’s sponsor Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson) pulled the bill Wednesday until he can consider the recommendations of, well, some experts. Science faculty from University of Tennessee-Chattanooga had urged Watson, who earned his B.A. in Biology from there, to reconsider the bill’s wording. Watson’s decision to heed the advice of actual scientists (a…
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…We have an unprecedented access to cheap goods, yet we must recognize that cheap goods are cheaply made. I am not speaking of quality, I am speaking of cheap labor. We must recognize that through the act of shopping, whether it is for an article of clothing, a toy, a pint of strawberries, or even our morning cup of coffee, we participate in a global economy that values profit over people. Disposable goods are made by disposable people, faceless in…
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…e success either. The opening weekend saw sales of more than $6 million in tickets. That’s the kind of number that will inspire others to try and figure out the formula for the faith-and-family blockbuster. Yet, with the cost of the film reportedly exceeding $30 million, it’s an open question whether or not the Left Behind reboot will get a second installment. The marketing problem of evangelical movies is still, stubbornly, a problem. The general…
Read MoreIn what is, at least, a temporary victory for religious freedom, judge has declined to stop a planned mosque from being built just outside of Murfreesboro. The Tennessean reports: Chancellor Robert Corlew III denied opponents of the mosque an emergency injunction that would block the construction of the project, saying they failed to prove that Rutherford County violated open meetings laws or illegally approved the site plan. In spite of the plai…
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…ou’ll read an excerpt below—has surprised me, too. I wish I could find my airline companion and give him this book, to surprise him, too—in a good way. (I would accept Lakers tickets in lieu of apologies, but I think that particular era is done.) This whole book is a result of a profound evolution, and needs to be seen as such. American Muslims have gone through a lot over the last few decades. We were never the caricature Islamophobes made us ou…
Read MoreAt oral argument in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties, Inc. v. Sebelius this morning, the Supreme Court justices spent a great deal of time questioning the lawyers in the case about whether corporations have a religious conscience, and whether Congress intended to protect it when enacting the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). What was most striking, though, was how all three female justices, Sonia So…
Read More…f evolutionary theory,” David Fowler, head of the Family Action Council of Tennessee and chief lobbyist behind Tennessee’s proposed anti-evolution bill, wrote recently in an op–ed in the Chattanoogan. The argument, of course, is that those who can’t teach the strengths and weaknesses of evolution are in the same boat as was Scopes, who couldn’t teach the overwhelming evidence for common descent. It’s a disingenuous argument and one I doubt Scopes…
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…te segregation and economic favoritism. When I spoke with Rothstein on the phone, he underscored the long-term effects of this last policy. During the 1940s and 1950s, suburban subdivisions were built in St. Louis, and throughout the country, using federal loans stipulating that no homes be sold to African Americans. Priced at about $125,000 in today’s dollars, these were affordable—with a mortgage—to working class families, black or white. Yet bl…
Read More…New York Times reports that Jessica Manning, a voter at a campaign stop in Knoxville, Iowa, asked Hillary Clinton how she could defend her choice to vote for the Democratic frontrunner to her Republican friends. “I would say I am a Democrat because of my Christian values, but many of my friends would say they are Republicans because of their Christian values,” Manning told Clinton. “So in these next few months as I am supporting you and defending…
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