Religion Dispatches
…H Reality Check that reproductive health advocates are not afraid that the lax-regulator-angle hurts their cause, but rather, like anyone concerned with health and safety, want answers: “What remains baffling is how long this clinic was allowed to operate, in spite of numerous complaints made over the years to city and state agencies, and numerous malpractice suits against Dr. Gosnell. Indeed, it was only because authorities raided the clinic due…
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…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…
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…ical prophecies) in the eyes of his followers. When Attorney General Janet Reno questioned FBI agents about the plan to insert CS gas (which burns the skin and mucous membranes and thereby compromises the respiratory system) and use tanks to dismantle the building, because of her concerns for the children, she was told that Koresh was abusing the children. (This allegation of abuse during the siege was retracted by federal agents after the fire.)…
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…tyle has impacted the Romney campaign and might shape a Romney presidency, Reno quotes a former LDS Church employee, who states, “Every Mormon grows up with the idea that it’s OK to lie if it’s for a higher cause.” That doesn’t quite ring true to my own experience, though I do understand well the truth-swerving phenomenon Emmet and Reno describe. In fact, I cringe when I see the way it connects to Romney’s own tendency to avoid frank disclosure—th…
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…ic of the Catholic hierarchy. The same year that Aitcheson was arrested in Reno, New York Archbishop John O’Connor led a high-profile march on an abortion clinic in New York City. Previously he had expressed support for Operation Rescue, which would go on to lead a series of confrontational abortion clinic blockades in Kansas in the summer of 1991. It’s also instructive that about the time that Aitcheson was burning crosses in southern Maryland an…
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…ategories such discourse is separating us into. As we all gradually become numbers in the triad of infected, dead, and recovered, we’re also pulled into the spiritual warfare of submission, defeat, and salvation. One can preach that Satan is trying to trick people into staying away from churches. But clerics like Burton must remain accountable for the social pressure, the communal alienation, and the feeling of guilt on the shoulders of the believ…
Read More…. And the Tea Party kool-aid is really flowing in the job-parched state of Nevada. As Jan Shipps, a long-time scholar of LDS experience recently said, the climate is so conservative out there that Nevada Mormons would probably choose Angle over our own Mitt Romney if he was on the ballot. What’s remarkable to me about these stories is not the persistence of anti-Mormon sentiment in American life, but the willingness of so many Mormons to accept it…
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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…
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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…
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