Religion Dispatches
…ustoms before local registration. Then we went to the farmers’ market, the flea markets, and the swap meet. She insists on using a baby carrier instead of a stroller. So I held her six-month-old while she pillaged through a sea of clothing. That’s a lot of holding, trust me. When we finally returned to her place, I was hungry, but I just could not take another moment of being so family-oriented. I decided I would rather brace the rush-hour traffic…
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…so far. During sentencing, the prosecution called Jake Angeli the “literal flagbearer” for the insurrectionists because he carried a spear with an American flag tied to it. Wearing a horned fur hat and no shirt, he screamed through a bullhorn encouraging people to fight against the elites “drinking our blood, eating our babies.” He was among the first 30 people to enter the Capitol building. His defense lawyer emphasized his navy service, and his…
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…at, and I apologize for being part of such a mean gesture. In fact I had a phone conversation with a prominent American imam last night—in Islam, we say subhanallah at such coincidences—and he mentioned in passing how offended many white American Muslims were by this very kind of gesture. On reflection, I can see why. I don’t find racial insensitivity humorous directed at me. The least I can do is not support it. And the least I can do is the leas…
Read More…ared equally—better to perish together than watch your fellow die—Rabbi Akiva did not agree. Akiva, a staunch pragmatist, who had been an illiterate shepherd till he started studying Torah at the age of 40, eventually rising to preeminence before he was martyred, at the age of 90, by the Romans, said there was nothing shameful about looking out for number one. Though elsewhere he proposed that the essence of the Law was to “love your neighbor as y…
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…l, educate the next class of policymakers and lawyers, and project a conservative evangelical interpretation of politics and world affairs around the globe. Is Pat Robertson influential? Maybe just a little bit. Matt Recla | The Theo-logic Behind Pat Robertson’s Offense In the wake of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, moderate Christians have been thoroughly embarrassed again by Pat Robertson. In like manner as after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, Robe…
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…elt that little sacristy door slightly creak open as I fumbled to dial the phone to call my mom. Was this it? Sadly, no. My excitement faded as I followed the livestream of the Synod of Bishops, punctuated by anger as I read the summit’s 41-page report. This past Friday I saw New Ways Ministry’s statement, “Synod Report Greatly Disappoints, But We Must Have Hope,” while walking down a busy DC thoroughfare. In it Francis DeBernardo, executive direc…
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…ritically reviews how global LGBT politics interact with local societies influenced by Confucianism. Along a perpetual competition between the universalism and cultural relativism of human rights, this article not only identifies the pitfalls of ‘Asian values’ from a cosmopolitan perspective but also contributes to a queered approach to human rights-holders against homonationalism. Indonesia: Court hears Islamist arguments for criminalizing homose…
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…a synchronic and asynchronic conversation with two dozen or so people from various walks of life from Arizona to Ithaca to India on Parker’s reflections and questions. And it would have been nearly unimaginable that I would have had the opportunity that unfolded through the day to interact with the renowned thinker himself. I’d add that the Pope’s worry that digital communication is marked by “the tendency to communicate only some parts of one’s i…
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…e in danger of becoming “irrelevant” in the postmodern era. But some conservative Catholics and evangelicals have a different take. They have argued that mainline Protestant churches are mostly irrelevant already—withering institutions that don’t, for the most part, practice true Christianity. They peel off members and churches wherever possible (a source of mainline decline not usually considered by pundits and pollsters.) But some are becoming m…
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…these films openly tackle political issues: movies like Batman and Avenger flicks express ambivalence about the surveillance state, government power, corporate influence, and other charged topics. Other times, narratives onscreen seem to mingle with political narratives offscreen, making war into an unambiguous battle between good and evil. And, more generally, these movies can feel out of place in a society where war seems less and less about bod…
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