Religion Dispatches
…on that will continue to receive more and more of its news and information online (this trend will continue apace, as newspapers continue to shrink and/or disappear). If the religious reactions of 1979 were aimed against student-led activism of the 1960s, then it will be very interesting to see what forms religious reaction will take to the student protests in places like Tehran, or Athens, or Beijing, that are armed and enabled by cell phone tech…
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…pitation” of the Malta Knights order. Speaking of Breitbart, the far-right site published a post complaining about Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN’s recently appointed independent expert charged with investigating discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity: In a recent public consultation, the UN’s newly appointed “independent expert” on the defense of LGTB rights, Vitit Muntarbhorn, said that negative moral judgments on…
Read More…ple of religion and theology professors, way back during the Bush era. The site was launched in 2008 as an experiment in bringing religion scholarship to a wider audience, and as a counter-voice to that of the religious right. Nominated for four Webby awards, with traffic of a publication five times its size, RD has evolved from an academic project to a thriving online magazine. Do you accept unsolicited submissions? Yes, see guidelines by clickin…
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…thers is not only permissible but actually necessary. When all the prerequisites for engaging in such an act are met, this is regarded as an act of great moral courage. Drawing from earlier scriptures, the fourth-century Indian Buddhist master Asaṅga speaks of a threefold classification of “giving” that includes giving material goods, spiritual counsel, and life. Of these three, Asaṅga considers offering up one’s life to be the highest form of giv…
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…self-evident (though there’s no identifying or contact information and the site was registered with a service that conceals the identity of those who registered it). As one who identifies with the “Judeo” part of Judeo-Christian, I felt invited to click on my home state of Georgia to see whom I should vote for. The links directed me to Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum and the American Family Association—a major player on the Christian right whose is…
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…letter at the time it was sent (reproductions of the letter on numerous websites, including Throckmorton’s, do not include his signature, while the letter currently on the Exodus site does). In March 2010, a year after the initial conference, the organization issued a formal public statement opposing the criminalization of homosexuality in Uganda. In contrast to the open letter, this statement was signed by over 50 people in the Exodus network, in…
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…, and physical well-being. It is only fitting that Peter Christian Hall’s online novel American Fever: A Tale of Romance and Pestilence, should appear now, during this season for fear. The premise is simple: The narrator sells flu protection gear (masks, goggles, disinfectant) out of his Lower East Side apartment as a deadly H5N1 pandemic washes over the city, causing massive casualties and wreaking havoc to the social fabric. Better equipped and…
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…onflicts and differences. I visited the women’s tent in Zuccotti Park (the site of Occupy New York), and the women were getting hassled, and some were even raped. Just because you say you’re the 99% that doesn’t go away. You can’t let the idea of “99%” and the very necessary economic solidarity obscure all these other contradictions. In your last book, Dreaming of Eden: American Religion and Politics in a Wired World, you go in-depth about how tec…
Read More…ted limbs inspired numerous stories, games, and videos that appeared on websites like Creepypasta. In an NPR interview Knudsen explained that he feels more like the creature’s manager than its creator. Soon online forums speculated that Slender Man had not been created by Knudsen, but was a real entity described by ancient cultures around the world. A recent book by Rev. Robin Swope (aka “The Paranormal Pastor”) asserts that Slender Man is an actu…
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…f Pope Benedict XVI,” complained a conservative Catholic publication. (The site also features denunciations of Francis over Amoris Laetitia, which some conservative Catholics believe is undermining church doctrine on marriage.) Mexico: Documentary on same-sex couple’s struggle to marry; trans women embrace Santa Muerte No Dresscode Required, a Mexican documentary about the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Baja California, won the Joh…
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