Religion Dispatches
…cal scientist Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “It has no effect on unit cohesion. It has no effect on military performance. It has no effect on recruitment. It has no effect on any of the indicators of military capability,” adds Belkin, whose center has thoroughly studied the impact of having lifted the gay bans in Britain, Israel, Canada and…
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…system is one of the things most clearly revealed through this crisis. The millions now being thrown into poverty are joining the millions more who were already confronting a threadbare social safety net that has been systematically undermined for decades, undergirded by a theological discourse about personal responsibility, work reconciliation, and the alleged depravity of poor people. From the start, the U.S. welfare system was constructed to de…
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…han we do our own child’s. We will think—from our helicopter parenting and minivan mindfulness—that we are doing better by our children because we pay attention without L. Ron or because we drop by the doctor at every sniffle. We will think this. You will think this. Before it begins (the inquests, the circling paparazzi, weeping Kelly explicating before weeping Oprah) let us pause, briefly, to think about that body, to think about his floor, and…
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…the fight to get there was full of trauma, was replicating oppressive dynamics, abusive dynamics, then what is the point?” Organizations such as DPN and Generative Somatics have held events focused specifically on healing and spiritual well-being, from opportunities to access healing services, to intensive workshops. Cullors herself ends events with a “prayer” she recites from Assata Shakur’s Letter to the Movement: “It is our duty to fight for f…
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…Even when he is not vehemently repudiated, I believe that Cone is largely misunderstood. One misunderstanding of Cone takes the form of an endorsement. I’ve often heard Cone and other liberationists’ work reduced to the axiom, “all theology is contextual.” The main thing about Cone is that he contextualizes Christianity to his black experience, this interpretation goes. While perhaps not untrue, this reductionistic interpretation loses sight of t…
Read More…h the press, claiming that he did try to stab a friend (or relative) and confirming doubts about his claimed interactions with a high-ranking military officer and the nation’s most prestigious military academy. That would undermine any presidential candidate’s standing, but especially the standing of one who has nothing to go on but his autobiography….
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…nited States. Webb’s efforts failed, but he was followed by thousands of immigrants from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South Asia and by African Americans, who converted to varying forms of Islam, some of which, such as the Nation of Islam, were distinctly a product of African American experiences. They built American mosques and Muslim institutions in such diverse places as Brooklyn, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Ross, North Dak…
Read More…making any sexual advances and noted that none of the accusations “involve minors or illegal or criminal behavior.” (New slogan for the church: The sex that our celibate priests don’t have is consensual…and only with adults.) So interviews aren’t interviews, diocesan offices charged with protecting children are reportedly protecting their backs, and clerical defenders of “traditional” marriage have an alleged expansive history of (unmarried) homos…
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…over inexpressibly wonderful Asian delicacies with the good grey incumbent minister, and potluck suppers when the committee meets to deliberate. Dana/Huneven spikes up foodie fun by ending the novel with 30 pages of selected “search recipes,” including some real-life stunners. So here we have a wise and witty narrator at the center of the action, joined in the search “process” (the word itself is suspect) by a cast of vivid secondary characters: C…
Read More…and compared the Bible with the Koran and continue to be amazed with the similiarities that I never knew existed most my life. I was the one in the crowd that asked you about the your story and experience in Detroit [see: Jesus, Carpetbomb My Heart –ed]. I’ve quoted you below: In this time of reconstructing the way our world works, a polarizing and exclusive religious vision is not particularly relevant. America is also inescapably and increasingl…
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