Religion Dispatches
…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…
Read More
…te segregation and economic favoritism. When I spoke with Rothstein on the phone, he underscored the long-term effects of this last policy. During the 1940s and 1950s, suburban subdivisions were built in St. Louis, and throughout the country, using federal loans stipulating that no homes be sold to African Americans. Priced at about $125,000 in today’s dollars, these were affordable—with a mortgage—to working class families, black or white. Yet bl…
Read More
…of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” (Genesis 4:3-5) This is the first of many moments in the Bible where God plays favorites. We are never told why God rejects Cain’s offering, just as we are never told why the younger brother Jacob—not his older twin Esau—is chosen to become the father of a nation. Indeed, the Bible does not clearly explain why Israe…
Read More…en are otherized for everything. Although the Fox channels seem focused on Louisiana, similar laws exist in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Brandon Reed, a MAGA politician who readily manipulates religion for political gain, sponsored the Arkansas law. Reed also sponsored a bill that created “A Day of Prayer for Kentucky…
Read More
…nvolved. But the basic structure of future programs will mirror the one in Louisiana, set in place with “a partnership with state and church,” says Jean Bush, Out4Life’s National Director. Dr. Woods Watson, a Baptist minister in West Monroe, Louisiana, an “anchor leader” for Out4Life, told me, “The deck is really stacked against them [ex-offenders].” During reentry, ex-offenders face problems securing three major things: “safe and affordable housi…
Read More…ajor scientific concepts and their applications. We strongly urge that the Louisiana Legislature repeal this misguided law. Louisiana students deserve an education that will allow them to compete with their peers across the country and the globe. The law is based on intelligent design-promoter Discovery Institute’s sample “Academic Freedom” bills, which pave the way for sneaking creationism into science class. While lawmakers have denied the law h…
Read More
…n Christians. Just 30% of them voted for Grimes, and 68% for McConnell. 4. LOUISIANA. Jones: In Louisiana, where Republican Representative Bill Cassidy is up against three-term Democrat Mary Landrieu, white evangelicals have slipped from being 24 percent of the population to 19 percent. In exit polling for Louisiana, where the Senate race is headed for a run-off, pollsters did not ask the “evangelical or not” question. Instead, they categorized al…
Read More
…auditorium (recall his defense for using taxpayers’ dollars to fly around Louisiana giving his Christian testimony exclusively in evangelical churches). Little wonder that he would fail to see a difference between carrying concealed weapons to a church and to a civil protest. But, thankfully, no government leader gets the right to determine the sanctity of a place of worship and what happens there. To the State Legislature of Louisiana and to Gov…
Read More
…ment of 50,000, as if the faithful at church. The devotion was audible, as tickets were distributed to friends of the Cuban government and not through a public sale. Here the religious nature of the Cuban sporting event is acknowledged only to be dismissed as inauthentic. The patriotic, quasi-religious crooning is suspicious because of its apparent production by the Cuban government, which distributed tickets to friends. Morosi recognizes religiou…
Read More
…ust be made to enforce it. In the April 2007 priesthood session, a musical number was provided by a men’s chorus. The chorus was selected and trained by Brigham Young University professor Rosalind Hall, who also chose the music for the choir—but Hall was not allowed to attend the performance; instead, she was replaced by a male colleague, Ronald Staheli, for that one event. In fact, Hall was not even allowed to be in the conference hall to hear he…
Read More