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A Debate Rages in India Over Conversion, Secularism, and “Spiritual Violence”

By Murali Balaji

…iolently—into Christianity. But the violence of the Portuguese era did not manage to “win hearts and minds.” British missionaries, schooled in the ways of catering to native populations, would have the most success in converting Indians through education and other incentives. Over time, India’s social fabric incorporated Muslim and Christian norms, and ironically, many Hindu leaders embraced some of those norms in an attempt to re-interpret their…

The Jewish Daily Forward is Neither Jewish, Nor Daily (But Still Forward). Discuss!

By Brook Wilensky-Lanford

…-Israel” enough. The Forward reports on Israel, of course, but it seems to manage to do so in a way that commands respect. And that is no easy maneuver in the intensely polarized current media world. In a world where Vogue’s choice of a Palestinian-American cover model for its anniversary issue gets everyone all riled up and an Israeli model’s Facebook posts on the conflict are put under scrutiny, it is probably no surprise that BBC reporters and…

Discrimination on the Taxpayer’s Dime? The Fight To Curtail the Overreach of RFRA

By Sarah Posner

…ntracts,” and could present a RFRA claim. But Daniel Mach, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, said RFRA “should not be invoked to discriminate or harm others, especially in context of government-funded social services.” The government, Mach said, “has a vital interest in preventing discrimination in taxpayer-funded jobs.” Applying the World Vision Memo Beyond Hiring Although on its face…

What the Catholic Supreme Court Justices Get Wrong About Marriage

By Patricia Miller

…nly with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) “did the Catholic Church finally manage to impose its authority in this sphere by invalidating marriages that had not been performed in public before a parish priest.” So the modern, Western form of marriage as a public union that must be solemnized by an ecclesiastical—or, later, a civil—official that the justices are so worried about upending is some 450 years old. If we’re going simply by the longevity…

New Atheism Produces Another Curiously Uncurious Science v. Religion Book

By Michael Schulson

…e faithful don’t have the evidence on their side? Maybe. But Coyne doesn’t manage to demonstrate that his book is a necessary addition to that little canon. Instead, Faith Vs. Fact consists mostly of rewarmed arguments from other New Atheist writers. Coyne’s analyses of religion are largely confined to tired smackdowns of marginal groups. The Mormon origin story doesn’t quite make sense! Nation of Islam stories sound weird to outsiders! Islam in g…

To Let It Go and So To Find A Way: U2, (A)Live with Grief and Grace

By Cathleen Falsani

…e room.” “Have you ever been experienced?” A tribute to U2’s longtime tour manager, Dennis Sheehan, who had died earlier in the day appears at the end of the band’s concert at The Forum arena in Los Angeles on May 27. Photo by Cathleen Falsani for Religion Dispatches. After attending a U2 show in San Jose, Calif., earlier this month, Noel Gallagher of the band Oasis described it as a “psychedelic experience” that was “staggering.” “It starts off a…

The Sacred and the Dead: The Trouble with Sugar Magnolia

By Kaya Oakes

…rough years of conversations, we made it, song by song, through the entire American Beauty album. Steve passed away in June of this year. That was 15 years after our “Ripple” conversation, and today, there are hundreds of Dead songs on my phone and dozens of live recordings in playlists, even a nod when I see a Deadhead sticker on a car. I am a relapsed Catholic, and thanks to my friend, I am also a repentant Deadhead. Dear Jesus, let me confess:…

Evangelical “Sexual Purity” Is Not About Sex—It’s About Power

By Sara J. Moslener

…nior year of college (also a Christian institution) and was hired to stage-manage a large concert event at a local church. The event was being sponsored by True Love Waits—one of the more prominent purity campaigns developed by the Southern Baptist church. The main speaker was a young woman named Giana Jessen who promoted the value of sexual purity by describing her mother’s experiences as a pregnant adolescent. Her mother had attempted to abort h…

Pope Francis v. Kim Davis: A Vatican Game of Thrones

By Anthea Butler

…pe is still Catholic.” Trying to read Vatican politics through the lens of American politics and media concerns is not helpful in this particular instance. Rather, parsing out the players, the mess, and potential outcomes will yield a better understanding of what the stakes are for Pope Francis and the upcoming Synod. Kim Davis impacts his “reputation” but the substance was always the same. Don’t expect Mathew Staver or Liberty Counsel to understa…

“Nobody Is Innocent”: David Gushee on Sexual Ethics, Suffering, and Full Inclusion for LGBT Christians

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…I consider it a great tragedy, is a deep dis-ease with what is wrong with American culture and what’s wrong with the churches related to lax moral standards and disintegrating families and so on. It’s a narrative of decline. There are a lot of reasons to have a narrative of decline. It’s very much related for people in America who have sense of cultural decline generally: “We’re not moving up, we’re sliding down.” Then LGBT people come along and…