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…
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…as also become increasingly depersonalized. In the age of the internet and smart phones, we can shop anywhere at anytime and have no contact with another human being. We can shop alone, in secret. I remember growing up going to my local drugstore with my mother. It had a lunch counter, the owner’s son was my soccer coach, purchases were written up on slips of paper and individuals paid at the end of each month. This was not small town America in t…
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…eally trying to use the iPad for keeping the daily blog, knowing that I do travel a lot anyway. This is not exactly a commercial for Apple, because so far using the iPad on its own is still a challenge. I think I was expecting it would be like the perfect synch between my laptop and my iPhone. Maybe it will be, but not yet. I am just at the place where I can say, it is lighter than my laptop. Oh yeah, and I got another plus: at airport security ye…
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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…
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…tened to boycott IKEA, after it provided Family Card holders with discount tickets to his Christian magic show, ‘Vision’. In a statement, the chain said it would not be cutting ties with the pastor. IKEA said: “Dear IKEA fans, thanks for your patience while we took time to come to an informed decision on an issue that has raised sensitivities in our community. “After listening to the questions raised, we decided to do a thorough review. We spoke d…
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…ivil Liberties Union has filed a 38-page complaint contending that Trump’s travel ban targeting seven Muslim-majority nations was “motivated by animus toward Muslims and expressly discriminates on the basis of national origin,” violating core constitutional principles—and, crucially, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The federal lawsuit, filed on Tuesday by the ACLU in conjunction with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and J…
Read More…an get a permanent pass from their mahram which says they are permitted to travel. And they do, as much as anyone who has the means to travel. With regard to hajj or umrah, the tour agencies worldwide, including in Egypt, can sort of become the mahram. So even that year I was denied, a female friend of mine (another American woman) made umrah a alone because she worked it out with the tour agency. This year, I am just plain old old. (Double OLD in…
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…trope to justify Israeli settler colonialism. Other 19th-century Christian travelers arrived for different reasons but came to similar conclusions about the need to dispense with indigenous Palestinians. Prompted by the growing tension between Darwinian evolution and Creationism, European religious pilgrims hoped to find in Palestinian geography, geology, archeology, and indigenous customs material evidence to reinforce the Bible’s historical accu…
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