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…eteering. Imported from the U.S, evangelical Christianity has blossomed in Brazil: In 1970, just 5% of Brazilians considered themselves evangelical. Now that number is closer to one-fourth. Fundamentalists have grabbed power in Brazil’s Congress, forming a voting bloc that’s throttled anti-discrimination and hate-crime laws: Lower House President Eduardo Cunha, who claimes Brazil is “under attack” by gays, is trying to overturn the 2013 ruling tha…
Read More…ociation, reported/gloated last weekend that Presbyterian denominations in Brazil and Peru have cut ties with the Presbyterian Church USA over the issue of marriage for gay couples. A strain on the ties was first reported by the Brazilian denomination back in 2011, when PCUSA passed Amendment 10-A to permit presbyteries to ordain openly homosexual clergy, according to a statement that was recently republished by the Presbyterian News Service. “Aft…
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…are on the rise. LDS Church: Report on plans for a ‘Mormon WikiLeaks’ The Salt Lake Tribune reports on Ryan McKnight, a former Mormon planned to launch a website “where anonymous tipsters – including those who work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – can post purloined papers by and about the Utah-based faith’s programs, policies and policymakers.” From the story: McKnight burst onto the scene in October, during the church’s fal…
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…marriage not having yet passed, and said Abetz was “a very good friend of Salt Shakers” who should receive much credit for helping Salt Shakers’ agenda: “I can categorically say that had it not been for Senator Abetz and his consistent stand for Christian values in the Parliament, the tide of evil would have moved much, much faster in Canberra. One day we may be able to tell the whole story, but now is not the time.” The conservative Christian se…
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…e convenience store with Skittles and a soft-drink and talking on his cell phone with his friend. Instead, all that Zimmerman could see was a hooded threat. And so, he deputized himself to be the police, and in that capacity shot Trayvon Martin dead. But more than just deputizing himself to act with police power (and this is the crucial point of Dr. Butler’s reflections), he deputized himself to stand in the place of god, to act in god’s name and…
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…ly profane and yet it simultaneously manages to be, as one Mormon told the Salt Lake Tribune, “incredibly sweet.” Its most defining characteristic, though, is more subtle than the number of F-bombs dropped and the missionaries’ endearing Mormon eccentricities. At its core, Mormon is an escapist fantasy about faith; two-plus hours of wishful thinking about how we might want religions to function: as powerful platforms for telling stories, joyful st…
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…hts, with Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico City leading the charge along with Brazil. South Africa: New movie with gay love story draws controversy for including Xhosa ritual CNN reports on the “critically lauded but publicly divisive” film “The Wound.” The film by director John Trengove is a love story between two Xhosa men set against “ulwaluko,” the Xhosa coming-of-age circumcision ritual. The film’s star, Nakhane Toure, has reportedly been receiv…
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…the late ’60s, it’s still significant that the struggle was rooted in the South. The Southern Strategy, which was developed by Kevin Philips, posited that Republicans could lock up the South by appealing to old racial fears without using race-specific language. Rather than saying “segregation,” they started talking about “entitlement programs,” “busing” and “law and order.” Divide-and-conquer politics broke up the coalitions of the Second Reconst…
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…wokeness,” but also laundry, “am I right, moms?”). And then there was Kari Lake, repeatedly referencing God to loud cheers from the audience. Lake’s performance stood out from the loud, garish appearances of her colleagues. Lake didn’t have to scream, and that, in a way, made her performance more threatening. Having walked on stage to deafening “Kari! Kari!” chants, she referred to herself as just a “fed-up mom who decided to walk back from her jo…
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