Religion Dispatches
…to cast a wider net when seeking to understand evangelicalism—and, I would add, all religions. It especially pays to do so right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtXmryT32oc…
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…tocks. Shannon. Deadshow, Deadhead. Dominquez Hills, 1990. Photo by ChasM3/https://www.flickr.com/photos/chasm3/ “Sugar Magnolia,” however, still presents a challenge. Written by Robert Hunter and the band’s rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, its lyrics would raise the hackles of even the mildest of feminists. The subject of the song not only takes the wheel for a stoned driver but “pays my ticket when I speed.” “She don’t come and I won’t follow,” even w…
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…ming Out is a Death Sentence’ The International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission published this week “When Coming Out is a Death Sentence,” a report on the persecution of LGBT Iraqis, and “We’re Here: Iraqi LGBT People’s Accounts of Violence and Rights Abuses.” From IGLHRC: LGBT people in Iraq have long been persecuted. But the rising tide of turmoil today puts many at imminent risk of death. The Islamic State prescribes death for the “practi…
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…of storytelling. The second runner up, You Made It Weird, is ostensibly a comedy podcast where stand-up comic Pete Holmes interviews fellow comedians. Relevant to our purposes is Holmes’ unabashed interest in each guest’s religious upbringing and spiritual disposition. Visit the You Made it Weird channel at Nerdist.com to pick from any of a wide number of fun and thoughtful interviews. For a crash course on Holmes’ own religious beliefs you can l…
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…many others) shouting vehement amens… …yet one Twitter user noticed yet another endorsement of Arquette’s call… Rare photo of Jesus blessing Patricia Arquette during her acceptance speech. pic.twitter.com/C4nr8Pp9Az — Tim Lyzen (@TLyzen) February 23, 2015 It’s actually actor Jared Leto, but this wouldn’t be the first time a child of hippies was mistaken for the Prince of Peace….
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…ges, Dayspring and its ilk lay claim to specious exemptions, hoping to overcome their inferiority complexes through special considerations. Intellectual distinction is a major concern for many Christian institutions, academic and otherwise. Particularly since the 1995 publication of (former Wheaton professor) Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, many in evangelical Christian circles have worked hard to improve their academic credential…
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…ldhood religious group for the Anglican/Episcopal tradition), it is fairly common among evangelical writers and intellectuals. From the historian Randall Balmer and the author Ian Morgan Cron, to the poet Luci Shaw and even Bono of U2 — evangelicalism’s creative class is loaded with Anglicans.” This quest for wholeness leads her to the doors of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland, Tenn. Organizing her memoir around the sacraments of baptism,…
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…they know) that they can’t. And it’s too easy for the public to default to complicity in this circle of untruths. The echoes of Messianic movement-building in the Rand Paul video (and surely in many more to come from candidates of all political stripes) aren’t just clichéd. They’re disconnected from any idea of movement that would put into practice a vision of a new America. In a time when the Republican Party’s strategy has been to obstruct any b…
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…the protests against the mosques, the standard stuff—the stories that kept coming up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJQr1Go9ldw&t=2s You work as an actor, a writer, a comedian, in a lot of creative spaces. What’s the line between free speech and bigotry? Wow. What is the line between free speech and bigotry? Look, there’s always going to be free speech, and it’s a fundamental right. We are allowed to speak our minds. But bigotry will always exis…
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…after the university granted official recognition to an LGBT student group comprised of same-sex attracted students committed to lifelong celibacy and “spiritual friendship.” (A pre-existing LGBT student group, which affirms marriage equality, is still not acknowledged officially by Biola.) Clearly, attitudes around LGBTQ inclusion are changing rapidly in the evangelical Christian community but they’re not following a linear path toward progress….
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