Religion Dispatches
…sn’t even begin to describe the 13-minute trailer on YouTube. The film was promoted by anti-Muslim zealot Terry Jones. The WSJ reported yesterday: The film’s 52-year-old writer, director and producer, Sam Bacile, said that he wanted to showcase his view of Islam as a hateful religion. “Islam is a cancer,” he said in a telephone interview from his home. “The movie is a political movie. It’s not a religious movie.” Mr. Bacile said he raised $5 milli…
Read MoreLast week, the aptly-titled Reddit user “european_douchebag” posted a candid photo on the online community site. The image, of a young Sikh woman playing with her phone while waiting in line, included the caption “i’m not sure what to conclude from this.” No, “european_douchebag” wasn’t questioning which game the woman was playing on her phone, he was referencing the abundance of facial hair on the young woman’s face—a nod towards her Sikh belief…
Read More…communities have been particularly targeted by Swamy, and he’s a prolific user of Twitter, underscoring the argument that right-wing septuagenarians and social media don’t mix. While Swamy is a trained economist, and the conference is on the Indian economy, the MIT backlash shows that organizers of such events should probably just use common sense. In the broader scheme of things, Swamy (whose daughter is married to a Muslim) is a fringe politici…
Read MoreUser Ramona at TPMCafe reacts to Wednesday’s health care reform conference call between Pres. Obama and religious leaders: What struck me about this entire event — these thousands of religious leaders conferring with the president about how best to use their community to do good works — is how little we’ve heard from these people, as opposed to those leaders on the Religious Right who use their names and their clout to fight any attempt to rein i…
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…this case, the “Twitness,” has emerged to shape the blogosphere, creating new faith connections. Twitter asks the simple question: “What are you doing?” Some evangelical Christian groups are harnessing these coincident messaging flows to strengthen their religious communication via synchronized prayer. Consider the Calvin Institute of Worship’s setup of an automated Twitter feed to “pray the hours.” Inspired by the Holy Scripture’s injunctions to…
Read More…rin’s situation, including the fact that he was described as a “heavy drug user.” Furthermore, in 1998, Marin’s father was murdered by a man dating his mother. His mother received a 12-year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder, though her conviction was overturned in 2008. Conversely, police captain Randy Dickerson asserted that Marin’s religious beliefs were “not pertinent,” but this too seems overstated. Marin’s initial call to the police de…
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…this question was only posed directly to the Jewish candidates, as Twitter user @JillSteinberg3 pointed out: “Apparently the question was directed only at the Jews on the stage. So very bizarre. My heart sunk.” It was good to see Sanders and Warren both argue for the U.S.’s traditional foreign policy goal of a two-state solution, which the Trump administration has done so much to undermine, and Sanders’ willingness to state outright that Israeli P…
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…d get to work. Of course many liberals already do. And there lies the good news. The United States has a rich heritage of liberal (and even radical) political views being promoted by religious people and congregations. Millions of Americans seek sanctity in their lives, humble themselves before a higher power (however they understand it), and realize that liberal policies will foster a safer, more orderly life for themselves and their community. B…
Read More…w wrote, “only Mitt Romney has broad potential appeal.” Only Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul come close to Romney in name recognition, but more than 60% of voters say they would never vote for any of them. The Pew survey also shed new statistical light on a favorite subject of media and Republican handwringing: Romney’s Mormonism. A healthy majority of Americans (68%) say that it would not matter to them if a presidential candidate was M…
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…sing it to try to figure out when the end will come. The final book of the New Testament does not have to reside upon a shelf as a dusty, useless relic, as only a failed prediction of the end of the Roman Empire. It can be a source of hope for the oppressed, as it was in apartheid Africa; a critique of imperialism and commercialism; a call to remember the impact that class and gender can and does have on power dynamics. The book is more than a Doo…
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