Religion Dispatches
…ncil on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (which just launched its official Web site) currently lacks a Buddhist representative, despite the presence of at least one appointee from the other four major world religions. That said, it bears mentioning that Buddhists have been conspicuously absent from many of the administration’s conversations about and efforts around religion in America. We were not included, for example, in President Obama…
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…energy and money into wooing evangelical voters. Obama has also met with a number of Christian evangelical leaders. Why such an accelerated focus on evangelicals? FC: There is a theory based on some polling that the white evangelical vote is in flux and that it might be possible for Democrats to peel off some votes, especially among younger evangelicals. Other polls, however, suggest that this is wishful thinking. (There is evidence that the litmu…
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…ce.” Economic realities make motherhood, as Butterworth described it, “the number one risk factor for poverty in America.” Pointing out the incredible economic vulnerability of stay-at-home mothers, Butterworth wrote: “We invest time and money and energy and resources into things we truly value. We build museums to house valuable works of art. We build giant sports complexes to house our valuable entertainment opportunities. We build giant road sy…
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…he Bedford bike lane, which was placed there by the city in 2007. While in official meetings, community leaders always cited concerns with traffic and safety, news articles usually drew attention to off-the-record complaints about proper attire. This, in turn, became the most commonly accepted explanation among bicycle activists for the lane’s removal. “There’s nothing unsafe about bikes,” says Theo Angell, a 41-year-old artist who joined in the D…
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…courts of jurisdiction to hear cases challenging a government entity’s or official’s “acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.” This clear articulation of the religious right’s dominionist aims, framed as a challenge to what the Right asserts is the excessive power of the federal government, did manage to receive Republican support. It had nine co-sponsors in the Senate and was introduced in the House by Alaba…
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…d while Christian triumphalists fight to make their version of history the official one in textbooks, there’s plenty of room for reasoned, researched, and temperate documentaries. There’s a valuable public role for these kinds of series’ even if they only wind up preaching to the converted. Furthermore, while the documentary necessarily leaves out a plethora of other stories, the show’s excellent accompanying Web site provides a wealth of material…
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…she gets to become Homecoming Queen of her high school. To quote from the official Judgement House Web site’s description of the narrative: “our homecoming Queen went home for eternity to be with her King, Jesus Christ.” In some respects, the Judgement House phenomenon carries much more subtle power than the Hell Houses, even as they are less overtly political. The Hell Houses were gaudy and gothic, a fantasy universe where you felt you were bein…
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…family for trying to get to the truth of his death rather than accept the official false war hero narrative spun by the Bush administration? In an interview with ESPN.com, Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, who led the second investigation into Tillman’s death, said the reason for the family’s dogged pursuit of the truth of his death was because they didn’t believe in God. “When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are…
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…those of us interested in religion, the strange midnight picnic becomes a site for untangling confusions about religious practice and religious terms. What is a Witch? O’Donnell’s jokey comments draw from the well of popular cultural ideas about witches and witchcraft, conceptions shaped in large part by fiction, theater, movies, and television; from Shakespeare to Frank Baum to J.K. Rowling. Intentional or not, O’Donnell’s invocation of fictiona…
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…llow unassisted childbirthers. Balizet, a former nurse and the author of a number of books on Christian home-living, motherhood, and home birthing, represents a fringe expression of the Quiverfull suspicion of mainstream, institutional experts. She condemns banks, public schools, “statist” government, and denominational churches, but she saves her harshest judgment for institutional medicine: a bastion of pagan religion, where doctors serve as “hi…
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