Religion Dispatches
…t is almost invisible outside the academic world because the text is nearly 800 pages of dense, jargon-filled prose.” Rest assured, we do not need to read Taylor for ourselves because David Brooks can be trusted. His ongoing effort to distill for us the density of jargon is a choice well-honed. The result: a column that we have chosen to read (again, wisely) and, moreover, a readerly choice that becomes a sign to others and ourselves that we are a…
Read More
…resent changes and emergent trends. I’d start by looking into what’s being preached and what’s being practiced. Where are resources directed and who is deemed worthy of help? What questions are believers asking and what answers are religious leaders offering? Bottom line: How, what and why will individual and corporate religious commitments shift vis-à-vis social concerns, political issues, and moral stands when less really is less—and more is not…
Read More
…en a FEMA course we authored on the subject. Making sure congregations are prepared with practical knowledge and affiliation with VOAD or emergency management is critical because even the most well-intentioned people can take counter-productive steps in an emergency situation. Even with the desire and the theological inclination to open its doors, a congregation might not have the infrastructure, organizational know-how or the personnel to serve a…
Read More
…full, evangelical Christian family, tagged me in a Facebook post about the PR project. While my initial reaction was along the lines of “WTAF,” I soon found myself sucked in to investigating the bizarre phenomenon further. Stardust told me they had checked out the chat feature on HeGetsUs.com and described their experience as follows: “I asked some questions about how churches conceal abuse and was told multiple times to seek answers in the contex…
Read More…ever have happened and it was WRONG!” And if that rape or incest led to a pregnancy, I would probably ALSO think, at some point, “[Expletive deleted], that’s horrible and should never ever ever have happened and it was WRONG!”) But basically, at some point, I would suspend by focus only on the possibility that conception resulted from rape or incest, and notice the person who suffered the rape or incest. So is that woman “innocent,” on the perso…
Read More
…Supporters in California”—CADC charges opponents of Prop. 8 with stealing pro-Prop. 8 signs; “verbally and physically assault[ing]” pro-Prop. 8 supporters; vandalizing “church property and private automobiles”; and threatening people’s “jobs and pastor’s lives.” ++++++++++ RD Tidbits: Claims of Support for Prop. 8 Among Black Voters Exaggerated: In the months since the passage of Proposition 8 in California, several national religious right leade…
Read More
…of Critical Race Theory, meaning the theory that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons. Instruction may not utilize material from the 1619 Project and may not define American history as something other than the creation of a new nation based largely on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence. The…
Read More
…d free, and will include video presentations by myself, by William T. Ditewig, Ph.D. and by Gary Macy, Ph.D. This book and an earlier book featured on RD, Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future (Paulist Press) will be the seminar texts. Registration for the June 9-July 8 MOOS closes first week of June….
Read More…e difference between money and credit is very difficult to gauge. This new printed money is a vague promissory note, one we simply continue to believe will hold onto its perceived value among those who collect it, store it, and spend it. Where will the money go? It really isn’t clear. The main targets for immediate funding are obvious ones: research and production of alternative energy sources; health care modernization and reform; more high-tech…
Read More…m China. It’s directed against the Uighurs, a largely Muslim Turkic group spread throughout Central and East Asia. More than 11 million Uighurs live in Xianjiang District of Western China, where officials have reportedly bulldozed over 800 mosques. Authorities have also detained hundreds of thousands of Uighurs in re-education camps. The scale of the suffering is difficult to imagine. In fairness, there’s been a lot of good reporting about the pli…
Read More