Religion Dispatches
…question of moral identity. The Doctor learns the mysterious fact that the city-ship’s populace has repeatedly voted to forget, which is—spoiler warning!—that their city is built on the back of an enormous space whale, the last of its kind, and they are torturing it to keep their city moving through space. This puts the Doctor in a difficult situation—he can’t let the beast go, because it would cause the city to crumble and its inhabitants to peri…
Read More…. Olivia Perry’s parents watch her infant daughter while she takes a brief trip to visit to her sister Emily’s modeling shoot—which she and her older sister Audrey end up being part of. Tawni Koloff, as part of a slumber party with her sisters, gets a tattoo while their mother Victoria is out of town. Victoria is not a fan of tattoos; she sees them as being at odds with treating one’s body as a temple. So here’s the thing: I wish that Christian re…
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…bubbles. The fact that Masterpiece Cakeshop is challenging a longstanding Colorado non-discrimination law amplifies the possibility that, if successful, the tactic could be employed to undermine state—or even federal—protections aimed at combatting discrimination against any number of marginalized populations. “The cultural and political prominence of religious freedom as an American ideal draws people to it,” Wenger said. “The reason people appe…
Read More…* That way, when I returned I was not lost. That is, if you don’t count my trip to the fourth-floor balcony by accident! I had no trouble locating my deserted spot once I got to the correct floor. As I said, just in time—as the only man in this cluster was practically asleep on it. My plan was only to stay for zuhr prayer this day and when things quieted from the crowds rushing out, to have some lunch and return to my room. This plan would’ve work…
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…do, and they share only that one joke-book. But what explains the constant number-calling around homosexuality in so many American churches? Why do we rehearse arguments most anyone active in church has already heard dozens of time? Why do we behave like prisoners? I don’t think that long-term veterans of church debates have much hope that undecided people will be persuaded by the repetition. Most of us know that persuasion happens in other, more…
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…erhaps I am stuck in the 1990s, but I couldn’t help but think that New Cap city was an homage to New Jack City, the drug-laden morality tale of Nino Brown and the Cash money crew. By the end of the show Tamara has become a souped-up, invincible mercenary who has dispatched everyone and walks the streets of New Cap City as though she owns them. Her “turning” from a sweet, innocent girl into the “awakened” cynical killer who is going to hold her new…
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…etaphysics or inherited tradition so much as in the “promise in seeing the city at it is.” Maneuvering around a leaky corpse, trying to figure out the best angle of approach to avoid getting fluids on your uniform or your skin—if such a moment is the root of a religious conception of the world, this religion is not for the weak of heart or stomach. Indeed, “realism” emerges from rough scenes—encounters with gang bangers, crime victims, the hopeles…
Read More…of the Mayor of New York have a much more profound impact. Muslims in the city are bombarded by media coverage that paints us as suspect. The city’s police department paints us as suspect. Advertising in the veins of the city paints us as suspect. The mayor made a rousing speech during the Park51 controversy, but he has not internalized or exemplified those words. We are a community besieged by Islamophobia. Instead of building strong, resilient…
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…natives of Fes) were welcoming, and the city does serve to break down many US stereotypes of the Arab world. It is a developing city, not dependent on oil wealth. Women dress as they please, as do men. Mosques are ubiquitous, if often below capacity. The old city, a UNESCO world heritage site, contains the homes Maimonides and Ibn al-Arabi. The music at the festival was absolutely wonderful, and did speak in a language beyond language. Now, they j…
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…Justice Department has made for Ferguson and which it has also made for a number of other cities around the country, are important. But the problems they’re addressing are a symptom. It’s not to say the symptom shouldn’t be treated, but the underlying cause of these problems is the fact that we’ve segregated housing throughout metropolitan areas in the country for the last century. And unless we are as aggressive in desegregating neighborhoods as…
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