Religion Dispatches
…y, I’m sure there’s no shortage of analogous secular prizes on the South African dial, but the fact that this even exists (i.e., is a viable motivation to a large enough chunk of a radio station’s listeners) seems to me an indication of how much more diverse in some notable respects South Africa is compared to other Western societies. It’s a fascinating (and in some ways still troubled) crossroads of cultures, races, and religions. I lived in Fran…
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…onathan Walton explains, liberation theology “began the very second that African-Americans landed on the shores of America on slave ships, and tried to reconcile their new position as hijacked bodies with the traditional gods of Africa.”) This all from a pastor who uses prayer to claim that health care reform is “against the law of nature and nature’s God” and “against the Judeo-Christian ethic that this nation was built upon.” Barton, speaking wi…
Read More…never be discovered embezzling money, enjoying kinky sex, or (The Da Vinci Code notwithstanding) fathering surprise children. It’s not necessary to label something a “cult” to understand the potential peril involved in looking to a living guru. However honest and virtuous that guru might be, she—like the rest of us—is susceptible to tripping and falling right up until the day she dies. What makes some folks willing and able to trust in a charismat…
Read More…ke the Scopes Trial pale into insignificance. Mississippians, like most Americans, are religious, and here is the good news. All the world’s major religions have visited the question of the moral status of the embryo and fetus and there is broad agreement on what is called “delayed ensoulment.” That was code for saying that the fetus does not attain to personal status until it is well formed. Early miscarriages could not be named or given religiou…
Read More…back to the days before the Civil War. Yes, you read that correctly. The African-American president wants to make us slaves again. Sigh. Palin’s over the top proclamation was coded in one of her specialty word salads that few can translate. Since I have been called the Palin Whisperer by one of my Twitter followers, let me give you the short version: Obama wants to make white people slaves!!!! In case you don’t want to watch the video, here’s the…
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…ience, and then you add to that DNA, which has been called things like the code of codes, the holy grail. We give it this kind of supernatural significance. So, I think it’s a combination of being a society that values data, being a society that equates progress with scientific development, and being a society that thinks that genetics—in part because DNA comes from you, from us, from we—is the ultimate information, the ultimate data. It’s like th…
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…encies like this. M: Talk more about what the speakers said and what was tokenized. L: Over the years I have often observed that higher-ups in progressive religious groups are comfortable including left-wing activist speakers—who are typically Euro-American and may or may not be Christian—as long as they follow the expected code: the language must be inclusive, the ideas must be progressive, and fundamentalists will be laughed off the stage. This…
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…is, as documented by the Anti-Defamation League, “a white supremacist numerical code for ‘Heil Hitler.’” And this year, Feucht openly expressed admiration for his anti-government, “patriot” militia “security team.” https://twitter.com/seanfeucht/status/1424525562278604804?s=20 Indeed, Feucht tweeted “If you mess with them or our 1st amendment right to worship God – you’ll meet Jesus one way or another,” which appears to be a pretty clear threat o…
Read More…known for attacks on Scientology, decided to send a message to the Catholic Church by shutting down the official Vatican website (still not responding as of this posting). What are the Church’s misdeeds, according to these code crusaders? They go back to the selling of indulgences in the 16th century. And more recently, of course, there’s the Church’s interference in Italy’s domestic politics. (Not just Italy, we’d have to say.) – The Eds. …
Read More…ns to name that which must not be recognized in polite company: the asymmetrical polarization and extremism in America’s current political climate. That asymmetry was famously expressed by the bipartisan team of Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein in It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism (2012), where they explained, However awkward it may be for the traditional press an…
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