Religion Dispatches
…based Buddhist Peace Fellowship, which mobilizes dozens of chapters and thousands of members around important social and political issues. Consider publications like Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and Shambhala Sun (for whom I blog) that have found appeal beyond just their target demographic. Consider the work of Buddhists in professional chaplaincy, which has been explored in recent articles in both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Consid…
Read More…hardest? Those trying to help the hungry and homeless, according to Giving USA. As the giving decreases, the pain increases as nearly 47.4 million people live in poverty and some 3.5 million Americans are homeless in a given year. My other concerns come from Vest himself, who, in the course of his 700 Club interview made it clear that part of his goal is not just to “give a handout” to the needy, but to proselytize them as well: “That’s why we fee…
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…groups like the Family Research Council and anti-abortion groups like the Susan B. Anthony List. The argument goes something like this: he may have said something wrong about rape, but he’s our hero in the fight to end abortion. (Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, who seems to never tire of outdoing himself, said Akin himself is a victim of a “forcible assault.”) Given that Romney, Ryan, and others in the GOP establishment are tryin…
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…York.” Even leading journalists questioned the health officials’ decision. USA Today journalist Joseph Spector observed that “the same mandates have not been applied to other neighboring communities where some cases have been found.” In stark contrast to New Rochelle, a week earlier when a New York City woman who lived in Manhattan tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from Iran, health officials assured residents of New York City that the…
Read More…dn’t attempt a bio-bibliographical conspectus of a prolific writer in a thousand words. (I’ve been known to take five thousand to explicate the prologue to a pamphlet by Thomas Aquinas.) I wasn’t trying to portray Mr. Steinfels’ corpus. I took a single sentence from one of his columns to illustrate a persistent rhetorical pattern of dichotomy. I moved immediately from that sentence to consider the dichotomy’s functions and wide circulation. What h…
Read More…they changed their position: USCCB general counsel Anthony Picarello tells USA Today: That means removing the provision from the health care law altogether, he said, not simply changing it for Catholic employers and their insurers. He cited the problem that would create for “good Catholic business people who can’t in good conscience cooperate with this.” If I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I’d be covered by the mandate,’ Picarello said. 3….
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…; Modi’s speech in Madison Square Garden that year, attended by tens of thousands, was considered a triumph, but also saw a notable moment of infighting as various leaders tussled for time in the spotlight with the PM. In that moment, Kumar’s partnership with Bannon set a precedent, signaling to the Hindu far-right that avowed White supremacists like Bannon were willing to make space for them—and were keen to accept their votes and money. Kumar wa…
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…ermines the “sanctity and permanence of marriage.” A 2018 resolution on spousal abuse states that “spousal abuse dishonors the marriage covenant and fundamentally blasphemes the relationship between Christ and the church,” but fails to clarify whether the church’s recommendation for a woman’s “separation” from an abusive husband can take the form of a divorce. As long as the SBC clings to doctrines in favor of women’s submission and against divorc…
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…nd communications director for the Episcopal LGBT advocacy group Integrity USA, of the failure of the 2009 resolution. “There was a clear need for education among the bishops and the delegates in general on what it means to be transgender and why it matters that they are not prevented from serving the Church in any ministry, lay or ordained.” “I have to confess,” continues Brooks, “that I was one of those people who used to say, ‘Why do we have to…
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…nukkah in 2013, the last time that’s on the schedule for 78,000 years. One USA Today headline phrased it perfectly: “Thanksgivukkah stirs thanks, angst.” As a scholar of religions, I see Thanksgivukkah as a phenomenon to unpack, not to judge. As a Jewish American, I am seduced by the joys and kitsch of this once-in-a-life time event … but it’s still not the Christmas tree I longed for as a child. *** The Sacramental American Day of Thanks America…
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