Religion Dispatches
…way from the hard work of repentance, who tickle our ears with promises of cheap grace, and offer a vision of the cross of Jesus that has nothing to say to the crosses, and lynching trees, of history. But, if we do, we will be settling for the gospel of Caesar, not the good news of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is time to put down the chalk, stop drawing pyrotechnical conspiracy theories that play into our worst fears and listen, instead, for the diffi…
Read More…f evolutionary theory,” David Fowler, head of the Family Action Council of Tennessee and chief lobbyist behind Tennessee’s proposed anti-evolution bill, wrote recently in an op–ed in the Chattanoogan. The argument, of course, is that those who can’t teach the strengths and weaknesses of evolution are in the same boat as was Scopes, who couldn’t teach the overwhelming evidence for common descent. It’s a disingenuous argument and one I doubt Scopes…
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…w modeled after Ron DeSantis’ draconian example in Florida. In 2015, now a Louisiana congressman, Johnson once again showed up on the radar of Sarah Posner, who told RD: “He was there pressing for the same things he had pressed for at ADF—creating special rights for anti-LGBTQ Christians over LGBTQ people. He was so extreme that even the Louisiana legislature did not pass his proposed bill.” He showed up again in 2016 as Johnson, seeking a spot on…
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…ll feel some economic squeeze. Of the 40,000 Vietnamese families living in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, one in three works in the seafood industry. For Louisiana, most of the Vietnamese fishermen affected live in New Orleans East, in the communities of Versailles and Village L’est, both served by the Mary Queen of Viet Nam church. According to Census figures, 75% of Vietnamese-American adults don’t speak fluent English, and this issue pres…
Read More…trast in how religious conservatives view the role of government. First in Nashville, the Metro Council has voiced its “support for extending workplace protections to gays, lesbians and transsexual people working for city contractors.” The measure comes up for a final vote on March 15. Some churches in Nashville are up in arms over the measure. [Rev. Maury] Davis, pastor of the Cornerstone Church, a Pentecostal congregation in Madison, said the ex…
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…We have an unprecedented access to cheap goods, yet we must recognize that cheap goods are cheaply made. I am not speaking of quality, I am speaking of cheap labor. We must recognize that through the act of shopping, whether it is for an article of clothing, a toy, a pint of strawberries, or even our morning cup of coffee, we participate in a global economy that values profit over people. Disposable goods are made by disposable people, faceless in…
Read More…wouldn’t starve. They refused, since it was all measured and the people in Alexandria would be expecting the full amount. Nicholas said that God would see to it that any grain removed would be restored by the time they got to Alexandria—and so (according to the story) it was. Another story has Nicholas secretly paying a family enough money so that the daughters would not be forced into prostitution due to poverty. He went before Constantine to (su…
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…e success either. The opening weekend saw sales of more than $6 million in tickets. That’s the kind of number that will inspire others to try and figure out the formula for the faith-and-family blockbuster. Yet, with the cost of the film reportedly exceeding $30 million, it’s an open question whether or not the Left Behind reboot will get a second installment. The marketing problem of evangelical movies is still, stubbornly, a problem. The general…
Read MoreIn what is, at least, a temporary victory for religious freedom, judge has declined to stop a planned mosque from being built just outside of Murfreesboro. The Tennessean reports: Chancellor Robert Corlew III denied opponents of the mosque an emergency injunction that would block the construction of the project, saying they failed to prove that Rutherford County violated open meetings laws or illegally approved the site plan. In spite of the plai…
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…ou’ll read an excerpt below—has surprised me, too. I wish I could find my airline companion and give him this book, to surprise him, too—in a good way. (I would accept Lakers tickets in lieu of apologies, but I think that particular era is done.) This whole book is a result of a profound evolution, and needs to be seen as such. American Muslims have gone through a lot over the last few decades. We were never the caricature Islamophobes made us ou…
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