Religion Dispatches
…ar. Most people these days look to Juergen Moltmann (even he’s kind of old-school by now), Gustavo Gutierrez, Marcus Borg, James Cone, Sallie McFague, or any number of other thinkers and theologians that Douthat does not recognize. The only people who want to bring back Niebuhr are conservatives. (I’m an admitted fanboy, but that’s about coming from the same church background as Niebuhr as much as anything.) And that doesn’t even get to the worst…
Read More
…ion or personality, to connect with their best selves.” On the other hand, scarcity is essential to SoulCycle’s business model. The classes may be open to anyone “regardless of their…profession,” but I somehow doubt that sanitation workers outnumber investment bankers in SoulCycle studios (one of which is across the street from the Goldman Sachs headquarters in Tribeca). Classes with popular instructors sell out in minutes, and patrons can pay upw…
Read More
…, although the “isolated instances” kept mounting. The head of the Militärischer Abschirmdienst (Military Counterintelligence Service, MAD) of the Bundeswehr had warned in 2020, that the military had been infiltrated by right-wing elements, naming 600 pending cases where suspicion of right-wing sentiments was being investigated. The military’s special operations unit in particular, the “Kommando Spezialkräfte” (KSK), had been under investigation;…
Read More
…Jesus isn’t messiah material for religious Jews. So, at first glance, that number seems staggeringly high. A full third? Once you delve into the numbers, though, 34% doesn’t seem quite so high. Really, Pew has asked an excellent question—a question that reveals the full tangle of ambiguities and inconsistencies that surround the topic of Jewish identity. First, some background: when the researchers at Pew set out to conduct this survey, they quick…
Read More
…st industry. During the peak of the tourist season, busloads of tourists descend on the monasteries in the early afternoon, cameras in hand. It is not uncommon for tourists to outnumber monks in the debate courtyards during this time. This is obviously disruptive, making a spectacle out of a serious educational pursuit. Monastic response to the Chinese government policy of limiting monastic enrollments is at least in part the result of a clash bet…
Read More
…ted a 37-year old man who had been making abusive and threatening anti-gay phone calls to MP Ben Bradshaw. Europe: Trans activists say Europe shows too much deference to ‘national identities’ Transgender Europe welcomed a statement from the Council of the European Union on LGBTI equality and gender equality, but said the conclusions “are poisoned apples as they lack political aspiration.” More from the statement: Instead of leading by example in f…
Read More
…ere not companionship-based. They were economic arrangements. Okay, that’s number 1. Number 2, let’s say that your wife didn’t provide you with a male offspring. A man could take another wife and another wife and another wife until one of them did. This is the “sanctity of marriage” that is being protected. Are you kidding me? Wow. Okay, so that’s Old Testament. Then along comes Jesus. Well for those of us who follow Jesus, I always like to point…
Read More…ubtle: it’s in the now-multiple generations who have grown up in Christian schooling and Christian home schooling for which he laid philosophical, theological and legal foundations—Bachmann’s legal education is but one example of that. The influence plays out in the many Americans who see history and science as theology, promoting “Christian American history” and opposing evolution as an explanation for human origins. Granted Americans have alway…
Read More
…gether, or [participate in] any student Bible studies even before or after school”; public schools are no longer allowed to rent meeting space for small churches; Christian organizations on campuses “have shrunk to mere skeleton organizations, and in many states they have ceased to exist”; the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance is no longer led by public school teachers, and the phrase “under god” is ruled unconstitutional. After President Obama…
Read More
…ential material,” said Mpofu. “Oh yeah,” echoes Bourland. “In my heart, I just begin to pray, God, let this woman rise to this place that you want her to go,” said Mpofu. “Number one, she’s a Christian. Number two, she’s a woman.” Watch a short video montage of the conference here. —Ed….
Read More