…goes on to cast doubt on the reliability of both electricity and roads in San Juan, bitterly ironic in the current catastrophic moment but nasty enough in the original to read like Kipling, but with a quicker rhyme-scheme. As a project, “Almost Like Praying” is a motley collection of styles and voices, in true “puerto” fashion, the hybridity and default cosmopolitanism of port culture. But it’s also an exemplification of a model of community valu…
…ation practices took place in a community of aspirants abiding by a common code of conduct and observing a shared set of rituals. While deemed necessary for liberation, meditation practices like mindfulness were not sufficient. The accompanying rules and relationships were just as important. Modern-day mindfulness takes this twentieth-century shift to lay meditation one step further, sanctioning meditation as a technique developed in the midst of…
…our university president, addressed us afterward. Two days prior, a duo in San Bernadino, California carried out a mass shooting with AR-15 rifles, killing 16. Falwell’s response that day would change the trajectory of Liberty’s public image for years to come: “I’ve always thought that if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in, and killed them.” He was drowned out by applause from the st…
…ffers high family entertainment value, therefore we will be continuing our promotion. “We regularly offer promotions to our IKEA FAMILY members across a variety of entertainment options, and in this case, our IKEA FAMILY members were being offered a discount on tickets to the show. “As a company, IKEA Singapore respects the diversity and equality of all people living in our community. We also respect that all individuals have a right to their opin…
…tinue to romanticize the “conservative resurgence” and “biblical fidelity”—code for continuing to deprive women and LGBTQ folks of power—in his commentary on the new report for Christianity Today. After all, both major architects of the power grab and purge of moderate and liberal actors from SBC institutions that SBC partisans euphemistically call “the conservative resurgence”—Paul Presser and Paige Patterson—now stand credibly accused of sexual…
…couple that was married in a religious ceremony at the end of January. “A Sanskrit teacher conducted the ceremony in a traditional Marathi fashion,” the couple told BuzzFeed India. “And all the ceremonies including Mehendi, Haldi, Sangeet were performed….The couple faced a significant challenge in finding a Pandit willing to perform the ceremony. “Once we found one, he researched a lot and made the necessary changes in the mantras and the ceremon…
…pposes youth center proposed by radical Muslim cleric Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is opposing efforts by a radical cleric to open an Islamic youth center in the city, reports the National Post. Mr. Coderre, who met with spiritual leaders Wednesday in hopes of fostering dialogue in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, said he will consult with borough mayor Réal Ménard about the plan. But Montreal’s mayor said he rejects Mr. Chaoui’s r…
…mad said, is charity. But Gaffney et al. portray shari’ah as a fixed legal code that a fifth column of “adherents” seek to implement in place of the Constitution (somehow, they don’t explain how one Muslim in Congress or the less than one percent of the U.S. adult population that is Muslim would accomplish this). Gaffney told the audience for his talk, which was directed at Congressional staffers: [I]n fact we are looking at a mortal threat to the…
…des, but exploded in 2003 with the publication of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code which, more than anything, showcases Brown’s muddled if provocative incorporation of the Gnostic worldview into the novel. Fans of The Da Vinci Code don’t need to go out and purchase Robinson’s translation, they can simply read the Gnostic texts online at the Gnosis Archive. Or, if they’re interested in other early contenders for New Testament inclusion—the Gospel of P…
By Randall Balmer, Anthea Butler, Evan Derkacz, Jeff Sharlet, and Diane Winston
…But the center is an assertion, not a fact; an etiquette, not a place. Its code, its theology, is most fully embodied in Americanized Arminianism—a Protestant tradition of good works and propriety, “distinguished liberals” and polite realpolitik. “Arminian moralism,” notes historian Charles Sellers in his study of Finney’s age, The Market Revolution, “sanctioned competitive individualism and the market’s rewards of wealth and status.” It did not e…
