Religion Dispatches
…ns when the openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson, was confirmed). The code word for most of that uproar is “anti-Modern.” So the irony of Catholic anti-Modernism multiplies, morphs, turns back on itself. The logic of Catholic anti-Modernism, as it were, is capitalist to the core. The Vatican looks at the world map and analyzes new growth markets. When one source of material resources dries up, the empire marches determinedly on. From this per…
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…n and minorities should be thankful to the white male majority for giving them the right to vote—paint a pretty clear picture of his goals. Shortly before the final vote this spring McLeroy proposed an amendment declaring that muckraking journalists and modern-day historians are obsessed with oppression. His response: “[students should] contrast the tone [of those journalists and historians with]… the optimism of immigrants including Jean Pierre…
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…certed “Zionist attack.” For those unclear that “Zionist” in some minds is code not for the problematically successful movement toward Jewish self-determination, but rather for the fabled machinations of the Elders of Zion, the speaker continued: “They do not want the church. They are its natural enemies. Deep down, historically speaking, the Jews are God killers.” Babini has since denied ownership of these words (though the Guardian noted his leg…
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…ertson and many other right-wing Christian activists today—are postmillenialists. Hence they believe that a Christian kingdom must be established on Earth before Christ’s return. They take seriously the idea of a Christian society and a form of religious politics that will make biblical code the law of the United States. These activists are quite serious about bringing Christian politics into power. Bray said that it is possible, under the right…
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…using on the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, Christians are listening to horrific accounts of priestly sexual abuse of children and wondering whether Pope Benedict XVI will take decisive action to cleanse the Church. Probably he will not. After more than half a century of living and working in an all-male club he just doesn’t get it. His focus has been purity of doctrine, not the purity of those who say Mass and administer the Churc…
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…lear of causes, issues, or ideas that would place them in the progressive (code name for lefty-socialist) camp. In the meantime, the legacy media has muzzled itself, likewise fearful of the right’s blanket criticism of the “liberal press.” (For more on this see David Domke’s study of the post 9/11 press: Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the ‘War on Terror’ and the Echoing Press.) Returning to the initial question: why have American new…
Read More…ic materialism” represented by evolution, and “reverse the stifling materialist world view and replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.” But now, it looks like the strategy has been expanded to fight a culture war over the interpretation of our nation’s history. Even though the Discovery Institute hasn’t been involved in the social studies boondoggle that has been taking place in Texas, the Board of Education ha…
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…conveyed this view in a very concise and pithy manner. The idea was first promoted by Christians. In 1853 Lord Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley-Cooper) wrote that Palestine was ‘‘a country without a nation’’ in search of ‘‘a nation without a country.’’ He made this observation during the Crimean War, when the continued viability of the Ottoman Empire came into question. With the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, continued Turkish rule in Palestine came…
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…n personal politics. Hinduism, because of its diverse communities and pluralistic beliefs, would seem more split on the issue of genetic modification. Instead, Vasudha Narayanan found that because of food’s prominence in dharma texts, it is important to consider various Hindu rituals and traditions surrounding food—feasting and fasting among them—in determining if and when GM food is acceptable. Narayanan does not believe there can be a single aut…
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…altered—apart from adopting the marketing techniques of pop culture evangelists and making synagogue music a little peppier. His epiphanies are generally of the Chicken Soup for the Soul variety: “I’m coming to realize that people of faith come in all shapes and sizes,” he writes, after spending a day in the company of Prince Rahm, of the Atlanta-based Black Hebrews. While it is certainly fascinating, and perhaps admirable, that we have come to a…
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