Religion Dispatches
On April 1, Jake Rush, a conservative congressional candidate from Florida, was outed for his involvement in vampire role-playing games. The story, which was apparently spread by supporters of his opponent, incumbent Ted Yoho, accused Rush of living a “bizarre double life” and dropped plenty of choice words like “ritual,” “occult,” and “Satanic.” Unfortunately for Yoho’s supporters the appeal to moral panic may have backfired. Rush released a st…
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Another Christmas, another string of outrages about the supposed “War on Christmas.” In November there was the social media furor about Starbucks’ red cups, as Ed Simon relates here in RD. Then this month, 36 Republican U.S. House members introduced a resolution “that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected for use by those who celebrate Christmas.” And in the most recent CNN-sponsored debate among Republican presidential cand…
Read MoreNot only do they run your local parish bingo and dress up in flashy outfits—they also play right-wing politics. On August 20, 2008, the Knights of Columbus donated $1 million to support California’s Proposition 8, which will appears on the 2008 ballot. If passed, it will amend the state constitution by adding the phrase: “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Proposition 8 was introduced by an organization…
Read MoreOn Tuesday a majority of US Catholics defied the call of dozens of bishops and countless Catholic right-wingers to vote for the anti-abortion candidate. 54% of US Catholics voted for Barack Obama. Today, the Church hierarchy and Catholic Right are mourning their loss, expressing their outrage and declaring their intention to keep on fighting. Here are a few highlights of statements from the Catholic Right: Some expressed their anger and disgust:…
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Can public school employees use their position of authority to impose religious rituals on other people’s children? “NO” has been the resounding and obvious answer to this question for decades, but on Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a truly dangerous “religious freedom” case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. This packed, political court is likely to say “YES” and rewrite every American’s religious freedom rights. An assistant footba…
Read MoreIn Noah Darren Aronofsky has crafted a provocative cinematic midrash weaving the stories of Genesis and stories from the book(s) of Enoch set in an antediluvian Iron Age. Midrashic commentary traditionally fills spaces in scriptural stories, asking questions of the text, and answering those questions. Aronofsky’s choices create a new interpretation of the story of Noah—neither a good nor a bad thing in itself. Some will care that the movie deviat…
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In nearly four decades as a journalist, I have observed that religion professionals of all traditions suffer from a constant case of academy-speak. In fact, one of my greatest challenges as a religion writer has been to translate what theologians say so that readers can understand them. So while I’m delighted with Religion Dispatches’ recent essays encouraging theologians to get down with contemporary media, I fear that using new media won’t be e…
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William Allen “Rookie” Kruse worked as a charter boat captain, leading fishing trips off the Gulf coast of Alabama for 25 years before the oil came. Then, as the sludge began to spread all over the place, no one felt much like fishing anymore, and Kruse, like many other Gulf captains in his position, was forced to work for BP to help with the cleanup operation. Kruse signed himself and his boat, “The Rookie,” up for the “Vessel of Opportunity” pr…
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During the Tribeca Film Festival, director Kirby Dick stopped by the Direct TV Press Center to participate in a roundtable to discuss his documentary Outrage. As reported earlier on Religion Dispatches, Dick maintains that his film isn’t about outing all public figures but rather exposing the hypocrisy of closeted homosexual politicians who discriminate against their fellow gays and lesbians. Following are excerpts from that roundtable. How did y…
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Highlighting the protean nature of contemporary religious identity, a 2008 Pew study found that 28 percent of adults had left their childhood denominations for other groups — a “remarkable amount of movement by Americans from one religious group to another” in a lively religious marketplace. How else could a region settled by Anglicans and Presbyterians be transformed into a Baptist and Methodist Bible Belt? How else could the “sons of former sla…
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