Religion Dispatches
…fect on our everyday approach to the Bible’s stories? Will play with the text in the form of a game make us more likely to see the biblical text itself as a game, or at least as alterable? Of course, Jewish interpreters have been reading the Bible this way for thousands of years. Midrash itself is a sort of biblical play and can be both enjoyable and theologically profound. But fundamentalists of all monotheist stripes are much less enamored of in…
Read More…ide among homosexuals is evidence of how unhealthy it is to be one. “Homosexual/bi-sexual individuals are seven times to contemplate or commit suicide,” he said, and then in a taunting tone, added “Oooh, that doesn’t sound very healthy.” All without a shred of empathy or recognition that the suicides are a result of how people like him treat gays and lesbians. I’ve written about the Reconstructionist influence on Barton’s views on race and slavery…
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…ir husbands. These organizations all promote literature, lectures, conferences, and other materials intended to promote this perspective, as well as the starkly delineated gender norms and expectations upon which this view is based. I’d be willing to bet the t-shirt will be showing up at homeschool conventions across the country this spring….
Read More…can voting gays made their case this past week on Michelangelo Signorile’s XM radio show. Jim, in Lexington, Kentucky told Signorile that he voted a straight Republican ticket to “send a message” to the Democrats for not doing enough to advance LGBT rights. “I want to see the Democrats take a big beating like the Republicans did,” Jim said. “so maybe in the future they’ll wake up and start doing what they promised.” “But do you think that Rand Pau…
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…ion Tracy Fessenden has demonstrated, even after the King James Bible was excluded from the curriculum, “non-sectarian” textbooks and morals education in public schools would for decades be strikingly “pan-Protestant,” geared to rooting out “sectarian” immigrant religious identity. But even if Hughes was dedicated to American religious freedom, he certainly wasn’t dedicated to the freedom of Catholics within the church. Prior to his battle over th…
Read More…ative to Barton’s interpretation, or even someone who might just give a straight generally accepted interpretation of legal history, would only interfere with the reality that she and other right-wing Christians have been trying to create. What reality is that? One only has to look to Texas. Barton was an advisor to the Texas Board of Education and is one of the individuals most responsible for rewriting the state’s social studies curriculum to fi…
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…America. A few questions may help make the case about the intimate, if unexpressed, links between money and religion: Is the pursuit of wealth an ultimate value? Is self-worth tied to the accumulation of material goods? How do moral virtues connect to marketplace success? Is money a means to transcend everyday suffering and despair? Would you die to save capitalism? The society we live in, and indeed the political landscape for the foreseeable fu…
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…in rise above to heal his family, his community, his legacy.” The ten-part BET documentary, executive-produced by Vick himself, relates the star’s infamous story through a series of testimonies, events (including a heartfelt speech Vick gave as part of his involvement with the Humane Society’s End Dogfighting campaign), and interviews with family and acquaintances. A contrived attempt at redeeming himself in the public eye, The Michael Vick Projec…
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…re left with an even bigger problem than before: Who made this ultra-complex God? A hyper-complex megaGod? It makes plain sense, according to Occam’s razor, to stop before we get to the first God. The complex universe is enough. Ergo, in all likelihood, God does not exist. This argument, which boils down to Well, who made God, then?, assumes that God is a thing like any other thing. It assumes that God must exist in the same way the moon exists, i…
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…ersal fact that every American, or at least every American student using Texas textbooks, must accept as truth. On the other hand, some biologists along with neuroscientists, psychologists, and other intellectuals see evolutionary theory and knowledge about the brain as a way to better understand that most basic of religious elements: morality. 8. Sports Values: Where do Americans get their moral sensibilities, learn lessons about right and wrong,…
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