Religion Dispatches
…or a Tommy Robinson. Not a New York Times columnist. Speaking of the large numbers of mostly male refugees entering Germany and Western Europe, Douthat writes that “many of these men carry assumptions about women’s roles that are diametrically opposed to the values of contemporary Europe.” How, exactly? He coyly cites a Norwegian curriculum for migrants which notes that “in Europe, ‘to force someone into sex is not permitted.’” Where, I wonder, is…
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…Germany: Why anti-LGBT voices are ‘louder in secular France than in pious Germany’ In a column by “Erasmus”—a regular feature described by the Economist as “notes on the interplay between religion and policy, in the spirit of the Dutch Renaissance humanist and scholar—the magazine observes, “Conservatives speak louder in secular France than in pious Germany.” Some excerpts: In France, gay marriage became law in May 2013. Street protests by social…
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…ngly brutal sliver of history, after which most of the surviving Jews left Germany (and Europe). Germany, in turn, was forced by international powers to reform and repent. And pay. America’s crimes were drawn out over centuries. And while the Civil Rights Movement forced certain improvements to be made, America has never really had to reckon with its past and dramatically change course as a result. (One need simply walk around the hallways of publ…
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…that has already been adopted by the other. Complicating matters further, Germany also has relatively strict laws on artificial insemination and surrogacy, which narrows those options. Germany’s legal system is out of date in other ways too: Birth certificates require both a mother’s and father’s name to be valid. Woolsey suggests Merkel’s opposition may reflect political caution as much as personal belief, but notes that public opinion is moving…
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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…
Read More…fter being stopped at the Romania-Bulgaria border, the boy was returned to Germany. The boy told the Tagesspiegel newspaper that he had come out as gay, and as a result his father had decided to try and force him to marry a woman. Channel News Asia also reported on the story: In a case highlighting the problems Germany faces in integrating its four-million-strong Muslim community, Nasser El-Ahmad, who has a Lebanese background, has also told Germa…
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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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…ust be made to enforce it. In the April 2007 priesthood session, a musical number was provided by a men’s chorus. The chorus was selected and trained by Brigham Young University professor Rosalind Hall, who also chose the music for the choir—but Hall was not allowed to attend the performance; instead, she was replaced by a male colleague, Ronald Staheli, for that one event. In fact, Hall was not even allowed to be in the conference hall to hear he…
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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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