Religion Dispatches
…conservatism. To show how definitions of “religion” and “spirituality” are used rhetorically we need only consider how AA Toronto Intergroup, when charged with discrimination on the basis of creed back in 2014, defended itself by invoking section 18 of the Human Rights code, which allows a religious group to restrict participation to the faithful. So while AA presents itself to the public as a “spiritual” program, distinguishing itself from “relig…
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…to galvanize huge swaths of the mainstream, the Occupy movement is too diffuse (circle) to do so. Having lodged that objection, I now want to answer it myself. Because there is a linear argument that can be teased from the all-circular Occupy strategy, and I will state this case in the best linear terms I can find. Let’s start with some epistemological humility. It may well be that the Occupy movement will plant some seeds of alternative ways of t…
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…physical activity, and—as a cartoon in ORU’s student newspaper pointed out—users can also game the system by, for example, attaching the band to a hyperactive squirrel. More have criticized the policy for seeming, as Rob Quinn puts it, more “Orwell than Oral.” Why, then, does ORU continue to require its students to buy the expensive fitness band? The plan is good for everybody, ORU Provost Kathaleen Reid-Martinez argues, because the devices are co…
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…against the Church, the Pope, and all the faithful by the whole world. The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.” After this mind-bending comparison, it was perversely refreshing to read a statement that appeared a couple of days later on the Catholic Web site Pontifex, deploying the Jewish people on the battlefield of this scandal in th…
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…ntracts to family friends; and how he ordered his staff to violate IRS tax code. Falwell’s been able to get away with such behavior partly because he doesn’t fear his board of trustees, which is essentially just a collection of close friends of the family. As noted above, Mark DeMoss, the one trustee who did speak up in disagreement of Falwell’s endorsement of Trump, was immediately removed from the board—a testament to Falwell’s Trumpian fragilit…
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…layperson might ask. Many would associate whipping with the military penal code, the punishment of slaves, or even sadomasochistic sexual practices. But in spiritual circles, flagellation is a vehicle for disciplining the body while honoring the absolute power of the deity who desires the individual to avoid sins of the flesh. Violence Toward the Self, Violence Toward Others While a spiritual practice that involves hurting the body might seem stra…
Read More…rk to comfort racist fears or desires. In fact, it does the opposite. It causes extreme discomfort because it disrupts previously held racial and gender guidelines and thus rules of engagement. And, because of this, both Obamas will now face the predictable wrath of the likes of Bill O’Reilly and others who have been just waiting for the “politically correct” opportunity to put them both in their “places”—that is, in the back of the social-cultura…
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…rent. Justice is meant to be impersonal, balanced, and fair to both the accuser and the accused. Revenge is red-blooded, vindicating, even pleasurable: think of the phrases “sweet revenge” and “just desserts.” When we have been wronged, our inclination is to blame and punish out of all proportion to the offense, reacting with what Locke called “the passionate heats” of our will. There’s some evidence that even thinking about revenge activates the…
Read More…ion and, intriguingly, that he “adds to that diversity,” which is probably code for a less-than-orthodox approach to the faith. Huntsman is helped also by the fact that whereas Mormonism may be the most intriguing thing about candidate Romney, candidate Huntsman plays rock-and-roll and rides motorcycles. 3. He needs to show well in New Hampshire, but it’s South Carolina he is banking on. His campaign team is already heavy with recycled McCain pers…
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…ot to pay for your bags of fudge rounds It’s hard not to read “welfare” as code. Welfare has long been used in conservative circles as a dog whistle for Black people, immigrants, and others who are supposedly too lazy to work and thus draining the life from our society. The idea of the “welfare queen,” a single Black urban mother, was introduced by Ronald Reagan in 1976: “At a campaign rally in 1976, Ronald Reagan introduced the welfare queen into…
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