Religion Dispatches
Note: The second clip below (it may be after the jump depending on how you got to this post) begins playing automatically. You may want to pause it before reading and enjoying the videos. — eds. Most articles during the course of Hanukkah’s 8 days will remind you about the holiday’s history or, perhaps, relate stories about how various communities are celebrating. Not being Jewish and growing up in the Bible belt, everything I learned about Hanuk…
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Stories are dangerous. They have the ability to re-make the world; to take us outside of ourselves, and make real the experiences, feelings, and situations of other people in other places. Stories activate our imaginations and rearrange the furniture of our minds. This is why narrative—may it take the form of myth, folklore, parable, or history—has always been such an integral part of religious life and the formation of religious imagination. His…
Read MoreSuhail Khan, a conservative Republican who served as a political appointee in the Bush administration and currently serves on the American Conservative Union board, calls the Fox News report asserting that the Congressional Muslim Staff Association poses a national security threat “anti-Muslim bigotry.” As I reported on Friday, the American Center for Law and Justice has jumped on the Fox report, amping up hysteria by calling for a Department of…
Read MoreA Louisiana high-school senior who is leading an uphill battle to repeal his state’s anti-evolution “academic freedom” law just added a bunch of heavy hitters to his list of supporters. Less than a week after a state lawmaker introduced a bill to repeal the law, officially known as the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA), 41 science Nobel Laureates sent a letter to Gov. Bobby Jindal and members of the legislature backing the measure. “Biologic…
Read MoreAs I write, the news has just crossed the wire that Gil Scott-Heron died on April 27, at only 62 years old. He was among a select handful of the musicians most influential for the rise of hip-hop music and slam poetry, during its immediate pre-history from the late 1960s to early 1980s. I first heard Scott-Heron in the 1970s for his signature anthem of black militancy, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”; and I heard him on tour in the 1980s w…
Read More…Aqua-Buddha college pranks notwithstanding, Rand Paul embraces Buddhist notions of the interconnectedness of everything and the illusion of difference; “nothingness” is The Word. Thanks to my colleague Jon for sharing. The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Word – Nothingness www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive…
Read MoreWhile Romney-watchers feign shock in reaction to Mitt Romney’s People magazine confession that he once tried a cigarette and a beer (both forbidden according to the LDS Church’s dietary code, “The Word of Wisdom”), more substantial coverage this week is focusing on Romney’s service as bishop of his LDS congregation in Belmont, Massachusetts in the 1980s. On Monday, the Washington Post offered a revealing account of Bishop Romney’s interactions w…
Read MoreFranklin Graham’s Fat Tuesday appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe came with his usual “dog whistle” to the Tea Party and Teavangelicals about Obama being a Muslim. Graham has done this before, back in April of 2011, when he discussed President Obama on This Week with Christiane Amanpour. Graham threw out all of the dog whistles he could, bringing up Jeremiah Wright, and pushing back on the panels’ direct question to him as to whether President Obam…
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“This is God’s body,” the girl says. She is one of a group of middle school students participating in a youth workshop on misogynist images in media. The subject has turned to abortion, and her peers nod vigorously in agreement. Imani Moses, a high school senior who is facilitating the workshop as a Women’s Leadership Project student, challenges her to examine her position—“does God sleep, eat, live in and control this body 24/7?” She asks, point…
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JACKSONVILLE, FL — In talking about the Declaration of Independence at a campaign rally this morning, Mitt Romney emphasized pursuit of happiness. Gingrich, on the other hand, has been emphasizing the “life, liberty” part—as in how the “secular left” wants to take yours away. Romney wants you to be happy. Gingrich wants you to be aggrieved. Romney doesn’t mention religion. Gingrich wants you to think the “secular left” is robbing you of yours. Th…
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