Religion Dispatches
…a game have changed dramatically in the last decade—assuming that there are, in fact, any rules left to change. Up until very recently “religion” had a very limited conceptual range in public media: the pesky evangelicals in politics; the demanding conservative Catholics on reproduction; the persistence of Jewish support for the Democratic party. The culturally dominant Christian and Jewish and, dare I say, narrow-minded perspective on religion an…
Read More…he same time. Plus, it’s catchier than the Bed Intruder song. Second, Miss USA, a Muslim herself, has taken a stand against the Park51 project. So, there you have it. The Salem Witch Trials: video game edition. It’s like a Hawthorne short story for your PC or Mac. A Brooklyn rabbi has been approved to serve as a chaplain in the Army reserves but can’t because the Army wants him to shave his beard. As an older rabbi serving the Army put it, “Look a…
Read More…that all of the bishops were allegedly forced to tender their resignations, the numbers are plummeting. Ten years ago, 73% of Chileans called themselves Catholic. Today that percentage is 45 with reports that in Latin America as a whole numbers are down 20% in the same period. In Switzerland in November 2018, six prominent progressive Catholic women left the Church by filing the requisite papers that relieved them of contributing church taxes. Fo…
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…variety of beliefs and practices. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of sufi orders. They range from politically quiet to very politically engaged. In many contexts they have served as the conscience of the community, speaking truth to power, whether that power was political or religious. Feisal Abdul-Rauf is not apolitical. He speaks from what we would consider to be a politically liberal perspective, and in service to the governmen…
Read More…d the invasion and occupation of America.” The youth-focused Turning Point USA, one of the main groups responsible for Trump’s get-out-the-vote program, has been a strong booster of the message. Since the morning, TPUSA head Charlie Kirk and others have shared photos and reportbacks from polling places, claiming long lines of men ready to vote Trump. Of course, MAGA has long mobilized male supremacism at its core, claiming that masculinity is unde…
Read More…visits went unheeded by the PA diocese for five years. The charity ProNino USA, which sponsors orphanages in several Central American countries, said it told former Bishop Adamec in 2009 that it had numerous reports that the Rev. Joseph Maurizio, Jr., had molested underage boys, the New York Times reports. Maurizio remained a priest in good standing, however, until federal agents raided his home in mid-September and placed him under arrest after f…
Read More…ber 18, a “Creation Care Summit” was held at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI, and brought together evangelical, political and scientific leaders to address climate change and global poverty. A pre-conference “media advisory” issued by Faith in Public Life, pointed out that the summit was called “to address climate change and its impact on global poverty, treating it for what it is—an important faith and values issue.” “Now more than ever, evang…
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…n American.” Just imagine a liberal clone of Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA, with a generous dose of Up With People mixed in. The genre is country, and the lyrics and music a rousing populist invitation to reclaim America’s soul. The song narrates the story of an unemployed veteran from Iraq whose job has been outsourced to China via Washington. Outraged at the greedy capitalists, stagnating wages, high unemployment, and fundamentally unequal p…
Read More…University of Nairobi and editor of a new collection of stories by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Kenyans. “He could not do that in Lagos (Nigeria).” Kushner also quotes Reverend John Makokha, director of a Kenyan gay rights alliance: “The source of homophobia is the Church,” said Makokha, the reverend who works with churches and mosques throughout Kenya to promote acceptance of gays. He said he and fellow activists spend most of t…
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…religion scholars alike are expressing hunger for something more. Yesterday, in USA Today, religion scholar and author Steven Prothero lamented Romney’s own failure to engage the “Mormon moment,” blaming the quality of coverage on the general politicization of religion in the public sphere: Not so long ago, Romney would have had to explain Mormon theology to voters in some detail. But now that religion has collapsed almost entirely into morality,…
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