Religion Dispatches
…. One of the arguments of the book is that what Luther did for religion vis-à-vis the Catholic Church at the time was to privatize and deregulate and decentralize it. Those three principles, of course, are what eventually becomes neo-liberal economics. The Reformation was a product of and promoted a communications revolution in terms of print. Conservative Protestants have always been the first to understand the significance of new technologies. I…
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…and had children, probably more than 2,000 children, who were sent to state-run schools like Tel Aviv’s Bialik-Rogozin to learn with young Israelis their age to read, to write and to add and subtract—in Hebrew. They also were taught about the miraculous creation of the Jewish state and about Jewish holidays. They played Israeli games and sang Israeli songs, dressed up on Purim and ate Matzoh on Passover. An Age-Old Dispute What is the proper Jewis…
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…returned migrant widow, Naomi, and her foreign-born (also widowed) daughter-in-law, Ruth. Naomi’s widowhood was made bearable through Ruth’s labor and second marriage. Like Elvira Arellano, the intrepid Ruth inserted herself into the messianic genealogy of her host nation. What a contrast to the modern Malthusian premises of zero-sum economics that tilt the lopsided analyses of the exclusionist think tanks, the muckraking reportage of cable news,…
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…the way, Jesus always said that the real sin is self-righteousness. The not-so-funny thing about sin is that when you keep on sinning, real people get really hurt. When you stop sinning, repent, and are forgiven for what you have done and don’t keep on doing what you did, often real people are blessed. Isn’t That a Kind of “Amnesty”? Can We Get Consensus on That? The rest of my reflections are on amnesty—what my religious perspective tells me is a…
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…nd China could fire a cheap shot. The Indian government’s assertiveness vis-à-vis China is refreshing (though achieving it at the expense of refugees and Buddhist monks who fled China at 14 to get an education smacks of bad taste.) The affair has also unsettled the sentiments of those living in India’s predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region, which separates China from India. There were large protests in the capitals of both Ladakh and Sikkim, as…
Read MoreSome two-and-a-half years ago, I wrote an essay for this magazine, titled “Secular Good, Muslim Bad“. It was a reflection on the initial protests which became the Arab Spring, before the counterrevolution kicked in and turned a hopeful cry for breathing room into a demented Arab Spring Cleaning. The vermin are fellow Arabs, demonized and derided for years, such that their blood becomes cheap. This happens all too often with minorities; what is u…
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…rdworking African American young woman, and Prince Naveen, a handsome ne’er-do-well prince searching for a sugar momma to marry. Through his interaction with a voodoo priest, Dr. Facilier (character traits: sly and dastardly), Prince Naveen is turned into a frog and, unfortunately, turns Tiana into a frog too by asking her for a kiss to break the spell. No surprises here. The surprises come when staples of New Orleans life are used in ways that ar…
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…ut the same law that buys a venison steak in the Great Northwoods brings a cheap Taurus pistol to Baltimore, to people who also feel unheard and neglected. (Never mind the strange psychology of the “lone wolf.”) So the freedom to live without threat and the freedom to own a gun are at odds. Someone will have to win and someone will have to lose. I mean this quite literally. The only way to have meaningful gun control will be to vote people out of…
Read More…rth control, which is inexpensive? Now, first of all, I don’t know which 7-11 the cardinal frequents, but other than condoms they don’t sell birth control (although a “six-pack and emergency contraception special” might cut down on a lot of unplanned pregnancies). Secondly, the Catholic bishops collapse all types of contraception into two “easily” available forms: birth control pills and condoms. Some oral contraceptives are available in generic…
Read More…ion jobs, more than doubling the state’s population. Now, those speculation-and-spending fueled good times are gone. That volatility does not treat mild-mannered Mormon politicians well: be they Reids, or Romneys. Just last week, Jan Shipps, a longtime scholar and canny observer of Mormon experience, wagered that Angle would beat Romney if he were on the ticket. I think she’s right. What’s happening in Nevada is the ugly down side of a speculation…
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