Religion Dispatches
…ion.“ (For more on Pray the Vote, go here) The promo for Craig Detweiler’s new book Into the Dark reads: “Detweiler, a well-respected film expert and media spokesperson on Hollywood and Christianity, examines forty-five twenty-first-century films that resonate theologically—from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Little Miss Sunshine—offering groundbreaking insight into their scriptural connections and theological applications.” Detweiler, co-direct…
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…mously in recent history by St. Paisios of Mount Athos, an influential late-20th-century Greek cleric. The liberation of Constantinople has then taken on further significance. No longer merely a single political or military act, for some the reclamation of Constantinople signifies a much broader type of liberation, a near-cosmic event which will see Orthodoxy triumph over a sinful world. Thus Russia, in this view, isn’t just a military power on th…
Read More…and fall remains a watershed moment for the resurgence of religion in post-Communist Romania. Much like Jonestown in the United States, the exorcism of Irnia Cornici is fascinating, not only because it is awful but because the public narrative of the event is amenable to constructing the boundaries between “good” religion and the subordinate categories of madness, superstition, and cults. The New York Times dubbed Cornici’s death “a casualty on R…
Read More…gelist Oral Roberts led one of the largest congregations in Tulsa, had the highest rated show on Trinity Broadcasting Network, and was considered a king/queen-maker among aspiring televangelists and gospel artists alike. Pearson was indeed a family boss within the sanctified-Soprano culture of evangelical Christian broadcasting. Everyone who aspired to be anyone desired to get near him. His annual AZUSA conference introduced a larger public to the…
Read More…hough Trump’s supporters are the most avid opponents of immigrants, Cruz’s high-profile endorsement from Rep. Steve King (R-IA) exemplifies the clash of civilizations mentality described in the PRRI report. (A desperate second might be Mike Huckabee, with his plea for Americans to “wake up and smell the falafel.”) In endorsing Cruz for president yesterday, King, well-known for his own anti-immigrant rhetoric, said Cruz was the “answer to my prayer…
Read More…licy agenda that reflects straight-up Christian conservatism. The commander-in-chief of today’s Christian right is Vice President-elect Mike Pence. It’s no secret that Trump picked Pence to solidify his bona fides with evangelicals. And Trump really only cares about a handful of issues: infrastructure spending, trade, manufacturing, immigration, and foreign policy. He is happy to outsource much of the agenda around social policy, which includes al…
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…al’s sexual orientation as criteria for evaluation. Following the Baltimore-Washington Conference’s recommendation earlier this year of Tara “T.C.” Morrow, a married lesbian, New York’s BOOM announced this week that “it would not consider sexual orientation in evaluating a clergy candidate, even if that individual has a spouse of the same gender.” While each candidate must also be approved by their annual conference clergy session, the stance of t…
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…changes. No hierarchy however fortified can hold out forever against spirit-filled steps toward equality and justice. This time, just electing a new pope will not do. Nor will closeting away a group of elite electors responsible to no one but themselves cut it for an election process. Catholic people have consciences too. We expect to have a say in how we organize and govern ourselves. We cannot in conscience abdicate our authority to 118 mostly e…
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…roup to the next, things were more convoluted. Blair’s anti-immigrant, anti-diversity comments came in the form of a letter he wrote to the New York Mail & Express, 19 April, 1890, and reprinted in the American Sentinel in July of that year. The Sentinel was an Adventist publication, and while they too wanted to see the coming Day of the Lord, they were against the political work of constitutional amendments, calling out Blair’s “spirit of religio…
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…fantasy world of Vatican City, you can tell priests that it is good to use new media to bring the youth into the church, while bitterly complaining that the press has reported on the decades of sexual abuse against children. The last thing that the Curia should promote right now is how to connect priests to kids on the web. No matter how accessible Pope Benedict is on his Web site pope2you.net, the fact remains: the current news cycle that runs fr…
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