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Did the Dalai Lama Just Call for an End to Religion?

By Richard Schiffman

…We are now in the twenty-first century,” writes Tibet’s leading monk. “The world is also facing a lot of new problems, most of which are man-made. The root cause of these man made problems is the inability of human being to control their agitated minds. How to control such a state of mind is taught by the various religions of this world.” The Dalai Lama advocates prayer and meditation as an antidote to the mind’s capacity for mischief. But he ins…

God Bless Islam with Courageous Leadership

By Ebrahim Moosa

…I testify that all servants of God are one family… Make me and my family truthful to you in every moment of life in this world and the next. Oh powerful and generous one, hear and respond to my prayers… My second prayer is that God bless Islam with a religious leadership that has a modicum of Solomonic wisdom and tons of moral courage. Why these two prayers? I think many Muslims have forgotten the message of humanism and solidarity with all creat…

Goy to the World: What Does Hanukkah Have to Teach Us About Living in Empire?

By Garret Keizer

…d” brethren in line with the global agenda of the day. Had Thomas Friedman lived in 165 BCE, instead of saying “The world is flat,” he would have said, “The world is Greek.” Which it was, more or less, though the Seleucid rulers and their Judean collaborators made the point with a vengeance. They forced traditional Jews to eat pork under pain of death; mothers who insisted on the “barbaric” practice of circumcision were punished by having their in…

Haiti and the Push for Theological Questions

By Paula M. Cooey

…e from this horrific moment. Or suffering is a blessing, an opportunity to live as Christ lived. Or suffering is a test that will temper us like the fires of steel, strengthening us in our faith. In any case, what is required of us in response is to submit to the will of God, however ambiguous, hidden, or unclear. While for some of us, God simply can’t sustain the weight of such protective measures, nor does God deserve such privileged treatment,…

The Religious Right’s New Target: Transgender People

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…o hell. We see this kind of thinking in a Washington Post On Faith post by Russell D. Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Moore tackles California’s new law protecting the rights of transgender students, allowing them to freely use bathrooms or locker rooms they feel fits their gender identity. Moore emphasizes that Jesus tells us we are born “male and female” and the existence of…

Dispatches From the Rhodian Shore: A (Tough) Love Letter to Religious Studies

By Todd LeVasseur

…of future dispatches about religion written from inundated shores, hopefully they will reflect that religious studies joined with the rest of the academy in rising to the colossal challenges of our time. Hopefully they will reflect new hiring patterns, new patterns of engagement with colleagues across the academy and, in our teaching and research, a foregrounding of the natural world upon which our survival, let alone our intersectional flourishi…

Pope Francis, the Bouncer

By Anthea Butler

…orming the Curia, and reforming the world are two very different things. (Truthfully, reforming the world might be an easier task.) Righting the Vatican is a enormous task. While Evangelii Gaudium is a good beginning, the more compelling action taken by the Vatican last week was the implementation of a task force for the protection of children. Suggested by the council of eight Cardinals the Pope has appointed, it remains to be seen whether or not…

World Vision Rescinds Decision to Employ LGBT Marrieds

By Elizabeth Drescher

…onservative Evangelical Christians. In a statement released yesterday, the World Vision president Richard Stearns followed the well-worn Evangelical tradition and offered a weepy apology to conservatives who were outraged by the earlier decision to allow compassion to trump conservative correctness in its employment policies: We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of…

Capricology: A Robot is Being Tortured

By Henry Jenkins

…on here to the riddling competition which is being staged inside the game world of New Cap City as the cross-dressing MC tests the mettle of Daddy Adama, consistently defends Tamara’s honor and memory against the kind of “sick game” that Daddy Graystone is subjecting the Zoebot to in cross-cutting scenes. I particularly loved the scene between the two Adama brothers this week. Sam’s discussion of what allows him to kill in cold blood—that he can…

The American Right Hasn’t Adopted Children’s Rights — They’ve Redefined and Weaponized Them

By R.L. Stollar

…cially children) afraid of helping professionals. “Children can no longer trust their teachers, doctors, or the societal structures that claim to protect them,” Matt Walsh’s blurb declares. This theme—distrusting helpers—is, in fact, the main argument of Mandel and Markowicz’s book. Because helpers today have become “woke,” they argue, adults and children alike should avoid them. Stolen Youth begins with Mandel and Markowicz claiming there is “dan…