Religion Dispatches
…these assertions less self-evident. AA is not like every other treatment What we can be sure of, however, is that the Twelve Steps are not like every other modern treatment for addiction, which means that attempts to criticize the efficacy of AA on the basis of its scientific credibility, or its degree of rationality (not to mention attempts to defend it on these bases) reflect a grave misunderstanding. While AA presents itself to the public as a…
Read More…Christian organizations appeared in court in defense of the law, arguing that sexual orientation was not innate and that decriminalizing LGBTQ sex would lead to the transmission of H.I.V., the large, mainstream religious organizations and figureheads, including Adityanath and Ramdev, did not participate in the debate. And when the Supreme Court unanimously voted to extend all constitutional protections under Indian law to LGBTQ Indians and that a…
Read More…wn and chat.” Kirby posted an apology Thursday on his page, acknowledging that “much of what she describes in her account took place, albeit without some of the more sinister intentions many have alluded to.” Kirby’s defenders may likely protest that my framing of the interaction also exhibits “sinister intentions.” So let’s consider two other framings. Kirby didn’t appear to be asking for sex. Instead, he seems to have wanted a fantasy to surroun…
Read More
…and benefit from a culture of normalized sexual violence, it’s a message that you are being watched and held accountable. And to all the white women who have jumped on the character witness bandwagon to valorize Kavanaugh it should be a reminder that simply being assigned female at birth doesn’t exempt you from complicity with patriarchy and the silencing of sexual violence survivors. While the death threats Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey For…
Read More…trality, or the role that faith can play in helping people to have a moral code.” That accusation is abruptly followed by the disclaimer that “[o]f course, faith is neither necessary nor sufficient for morality.” Cameron also lays bare his quintessentially 21st century religiosity, proclaiming that “I am a member of the Church of England, and, I suspect, a rather classic one: not that regular in attendance, and a bit vague on some of the more diff…
Read More
…ya, and Egypt despite the fact that its content does not violate YouTube’s hate speech policy, which recognizes hate speech against individuals but not the (highly problematic) category of hate speech against groups. “We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions,” said a YouTube spokesperson at the time. “This can be a challenge because what’s okay in one country can be offensive…
Read More…trality, or the role that faith can play in helping people to have a moral code.” That accusation is abruptly followed by the disclaimer that “[o]f course, faith is neither necessary nor sufficient for morality.” Cameron also lays bare his quintessentially 21st century religiosity, proclaiming that “I am a member of the Church of England, and, I suspect, a rather classic one: not that regular in attendance, and a bit vague on some of the more diff…
Read More
…s of biblical law. * * * * Like Rushdoony, [GOA lawyer Herb] Titus argues that government is by covenant; that authority is distributed by God among three institutions with distinct (and distinctly limited) jurisdictions: family, church, and civil government. To root this view in the American Constitutional system, Rushdoony and Titus both read the secular language of the Constitution in the context of the invocation of “the Creator” in the Declar…
Read More
…f rapture. The Edge’s epic guitar riff complements the moment. ESPN knows what that threaded riff does to people like me when accompanying emotionally piqued football highlights. Over the top of that, the pop prophet Bono speaks: “If history means anything, the world as we know it is about to change.” Melodrama? Maybe, but so are many of the Episcopal Masses that I’ve attended. One of the things that make this quadrennial tournament religious is t…
Read More…d God to continue to bestow his bountiful blessings on the children and their families. Later, I learned that filmed near here was The Truman Show, a movie in which the protagonist (played by Jim Carrey) spends his life not realizing that everything around him is just a carefully crafted illusion and that his entire world exists in a bubble visible from outer space. Truman only learns about the real world when a camera comes crashing from the sky,…
Read More