Religion Dispatches
…the mainstream. This year, Donald Trump made it the venue for his apocalyptic bid—not for the New Heaven, but for the New Earth, christened by the blood of his enemies. Less a New Jerusalem than a New Elohim City. His speech was more than just factually inaccurate, it was quite literally apocalyptic….
Read More
…s a political designation whose terms are aggressively manipulated against new religious movements (or, in the case of the Branch Davidians, offshoots of well established Christian denominations). MAGA is essentially a political movement, not a new religious one (even if, as Catherine Wessinger has argued, a significant portion of Trump’s most active base may be seen as one). What Waco offers to the far-right, though, is a platform for their conti…
Read More
…The flowers! The birds! The… pundits? Although the first primaries for the 2024 presidential election are about nine months away, election season is already being thrust upon us. Like the annual commercial push for Christmas, which, to my great annoyance, seems to come earlier and earlier each year, election cycles bring with them an array of tired tropes that should have been dumped ages ago, including an avalanche of obnoxious public God talk….
Read More
…Electoral Maps, and Representation Ismar Volić Princeton U. Press April 2, 2024 Following similar elections in Slovenia and Croatia the previous spring, this was Bosnia’s first general election while it was still a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, a country whose socialist-era days were clearly numbered. Three ethnic parties, representing Bosnian Muslims, Croats, and Serbs, swept the election and formed the new seven-member presidency. The dre…
Read More
…in a Synod of Bishops in October of 2023 and another session in October of 2024. Several hundred bishops and a few lay people will develop suggestions to “submit to the Holy Father,” (IL par.10) who, unsurprisingly, has the final say on what comes next. In plain English, what’s called the Synod on Synodality, an infelicitous phrase if ever one were hatched, is an ecclesial effort that retrains sights on Rome as the locus of decision-making, albei…
Read More
…country would be immune from the threat of civil war, wouldn’t it? Yet, a new American civil war is no longer unthinkable. Political scientist Barbara Walter has identified two specific factors that predict the likelihood of civil war occurrence. Alarmingly, both variables are present in the United States today and are quickly pushing the country to the brink. The first is “anocracy,” a political science term for countries that mix democratic and…
Read More
…ts (if the Church hasn’t driven a wedge between them and us). But then the news cycle passes and, with each expression of anti-LGBTQ Catholic doctrine on diocesan and global levels, these small victories are tarnished with sadness and frustration. This is not to say that these moments of recognition don’t matter to me or to so many other LGBTQ Catholics; it’s just to say that it hurts me so much more when these slight openings have no practical im…
Read More
…activists face increasing threats and intimidation. Right-wing pro-Israel New York City Council member Inna Vernikov was arrested for toting a firearm while observing a protest at Brooklyn College. At Harvard, a truck with digital billboards circled the streets surrounding campus displaying names and faces of students who signed an open letter concerning events in Israel, a harassment tactic utilized by pro-Israel campus organizations in the past…
Read More
…mportant numbers may be still to come, however. PRRI looks to be releasing new information on the Catholic vote on Halloween, a number which often closely tracks the final total of overall voters. It’s also a number that varies quite a bit by the racial breakdown. While Trump wins white Catholics 48-41, he gets absolutely crushed among Hispanics, 84-12. A few back-of-the-envelope calculations put us firmly in “Holy shit” territory. Even assuming a…
Read More
…cal story of Jericho. It is time as prophesied, for the old to end and the new earth, the new way with freedom to begin. God Bless you all!” And referencing their tools a donor from southern Michigan says: “God bless and protect you. The walls of Jericho will crumble. Keep blowing your modern-day shofars!” Yet another, from Simi Valley, California, transports it from Jericho into Revelation, writing, “Those aren’t horns, they’re trumpets. Just did…
Read More