Religion Dispatches
…heology. And now we have a new wave of evangelicals who are part of that cause. I never took Liberation Theology because I went to evangelical school. They planted the seeds early. Unfortunately, they did it nicely. They built relationships from the late ’80s through to the ’90s, and by the time they said what their agenda was, they already had lots of bishops. It worked well in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda. And most of the bishops there were trained in…
Read More
…and challenging the high standards Pope Francis demands of clergy. In the southern city of Naples, for example, a priest was recently suspended from the parish of Santa Maria degli Angeli over claims he held gay orgies and used Internet sites to recruit potential partners whom he paid for sex. … In the northern city of Padua, a 48-year-old priest, the Rev. Andrea Contin, is facing defrocking as well as judicial proceedings amid accusations he had…
Read More
…can have a dramatic effect on how coronavirus spreads or doesn’t, as South Korea found out the hard way. While many aren’t meeting at all or are streaming services, some churches that do meet feel like they need to support those who need it, in worship or otherwise. My mother’s congregation in Madison, Wisconsin elected to close for a week or two, but also voted to continue to allow Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs to continue t…
Read More…ies curriculum sits on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. Conservative religious groups are hoping and praying he won’t sign it. A conservative group in Iowa hopes candidates will sign its “Marriage Vow” which includes promises that candidates will oppose gay marriage and remain faithful to their spouses. The embattled Crystal Cathedral has voted founder Robert H. Schuller off of the church’s board and may become a Catholic cathedral. The Dalai Lama turne…
Read More
…comes up in a search of Falwell’s Twitter for “Charlottesville.” Prominent Southern Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress—his First Baptist Dallas choir performed an ode of sorts called “Make America Great Again”at a Trump rally in honor of veterans that took place in Washington, D.C. on July 2nd—is also a member of Trump’s Evangelical advisory board. And like Falwell, he has defended the president’s remarks on Charlottesville that placed blame “on many…
Read More
…their own company-wide time systems. At one point, American rail companies used around 75 different standards by which to pace their hours. Within a single city, a train leaving on one line at 3:45 could leave before a train leaving at 3:30 on a different line, because the two companies counted the minutes differently. Not surprisingly, railroad owners wanted a common currency of time, or at least a reliable way of making conversions. They got it….
Read More…Trump is the ‘most pro-life president in American history.’ Pence, White House Adviser Kellyanne Conway, and Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser—a Trump ally who gave a speech Thursday morning praising the president—all made a version of the claim. In a week of bad headlines for the White House, this message marked the real return to the script that helped get Trump elected. A year ago, I wrote about my experience as a single-iss…
Read More
…em religious authority and influence. Due to the gift/curse of oil, the House of Saud has immense wealth and resources that it has used for philanthropy, maintenance, and expansion of the mosques, building unnecessary clock towers, oppression of minorities and women, proselytizing an austere, extremist vision of Islam, and a commitment to living a gaudy, materialistic lifestyle that makes Kanye look like an ascetic. Their friendly relations with…
Read More
…ults in non-Western convert communities, such as in sub-Saharan Africa and South Korea, being completely ignored). This conflation ignores the very real history of conquest and occupation that occurred between Western and Eastern Christendom, in which the West has almost always been the aggressor, that stands as one of the foundations of modern Eastern Christian identity. For example, the 1204 Sack of Constantinople by Crusaders, so pivotal in Ort…
Read More…sed by the government. Another interviewee compares the situation to North Korea and warns of persecution of religious gatherings in the U.S. Wow, you think, has an injustice been done here? And then you remember: oh, yeah, the religious right’s rhetoric about threats to religious liberty is rarely accurate, almost always wildly overblown. A commenter links to the other side of the story, told by the city of Phoenix. And yes, it’s a very different…
Read More