Religion Dispatches
…thing, I have grown tired of the dialogue model. How long are we going to compare apples and oranges even in the form of mixed salad, before we move forward to the model of faith in action? If a community needs flood relief or sanitation ditches, it matters less what the particulars of your faith are if you say you are motivated by your faith to construct what is needed. Then the distinctions between your faiths are truly less significant than pu…
Read More…ture and train to the glory of God. How could the vice-presidency possibly compare with a task that God has personally designed her to fill?” Clearly Palin won’t win the support of traditionalists of this bent, but her assurances that motherhood is her most important vocation, indeed duty, seems tailored to comfort less strict opponents to women in leadership. While the mainstream media repeats Palin’s homage to both Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary…
Read More
…differences but they run through the entire Western world. Which is why I compared, for example, the Calvinist politics in 19th century Holland with Christian politics in the U.S. So I think it’s easy to exaggerate differences. That’s the thing—once a story gets told it calcifies… What Europeans don’t quite get about Americans is the nature of Christianity here. In Europe, people (whether they’re believers or not) still associate the church—wheth…
Read More
…y writes “in terms of its access or clout among the country’s leadership.” Compare that with Socrates in the City, a group of young, upwardly-mobile New York evangelicals who gather to socialize, listen to Christian intellectuals, and develop a faith life grounded in thought. Or the unnamed group of “very upper slice’” business executives who meet monthly for prayer and discussion. In each of these groups, class works in one way that McCloud sugge…
Read More…site at godhatesfags.com looks like a deft parody of hate sites. In fact, compare WBC’s Santa attack to a similar piece over at Landover Baptist, an openly stated religious parody site. If WBC’s goal is to turn America against gays and lesbians, Iraq veterans and now Santa, they have been woefully incompetent. However, they do tend to foster more tolerance, and even some acceptance. Ask even the most virulently anti-gay Christian about Phelps and…
Read More…alysis of the “volume of prayers being offered” is overlaid with data on a number of social problems, to compare the “prayer years with the post prayer years.” The removal of prayer from public schools lowered the amount of prayer being offered to such a degree that its impact was felt, not just in the schools, but in every aspect of our national life! Never mind that just because two things seem to happen at the same time doesn’t make them causal…
Read More
…There is no way of doing that without pissing off someone. Though I do not compare myself to him (I am not that megalomaniacal), I am reminded of Socrates who compared himself to a horse fly. Anyone who has had the misfortune of being bitten by one knows that they hurt. On the other hand pain captures one’s attention. I think that I rather like the horse fly metaphor. Knowledge and truth often hurt. So yes, I want to inform my readers. But there i…
Read More
…to change church teaching, which also gave Ross Douthat an opportunity to compare Francis to Trump. I think the media have to be very clear, very transparent, and not fall into—no offense intended—the sickness of coprophilia, that is, always wanting to cover scandals, covering nasty things, even if they are true. And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done. In early December, Pope Francis comp…
Read More
…from Harrisburg. As they sat down at the table, Sneath and Dennis began to compare notes, sharing common experiences. Dennis plopped a large file on the table that details the case and starts flipping through pages. She asked Sneath if she had initially realized how demanding and time-consuming being a plaintiff in a First Amendment case would be. Sneath told her she honestly had no idea what to expect. At first, Jenifer Dennis said she couldn’t t…
Read More…Arizona community of Short Creek, as well as with the movement of a select number of FLDS members to the faith’s remote compound in Eldorado, Texas. Jeffs will stand a new trial in Utah scheduled to begin on August 23, and he faces extradition to Texas. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is also being pressured to review state rape statutes to better deal with the situation of arranged underage marriages in polygamous communities. Two days after…
Read More