Religion Dispatches
…ts are willing to say almost anything—which is not quite as virtuous. The latest scientific salvo fired across the bow of religion concerns, of all things, the size of the religious brain. Here’s the storyline as reported in the media: “Study suggests ‘born again’ believers have smaller brains” (USA Today) “Study suggests ‘born again’ believers have smaller brains” (Beliefnet) “Born-again Christians have smaller brains” (Houston Chron…
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…who has written about the civic engagement of African-American women in my latest book, Rev. Cook’s scattered resumé lacks the distinction of other notable black women historically involved in both religious affairs and international engagement, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, civil rights leader, and founder of the National Council of Negro Women, or Sue Bailey Thurman, who was committed to inter-religious and interracial understanding (sh…
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…keep up with those Joneses) we were okay with it. It is only now that the latest and largest financial bubble has burst that we are beginning to break through our perceptual bubble to wonder whether entrusting our fates to self-interested and unregulated moneymen was really such a great idea. But I would not count on, say, the bad odor now adhering to the word “banker” to lead to our deliverance from the bankers’ grip. To imagine that we can esca…
Read More…barrassed for them for even asking for an apology.” Perhaps Fox missed the latest poll showing that 58 percent of those asked believe homosexuality should be accepted in society—or this one that shows 53 percent support marriage equality for gays and lesbians. But, the shifting sands of opinion over the morality of homosexuality didn’t stop the convention’s members from passing a resolution today to affirm the Defense of Marriage Act and “again ca…
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…ersal-soul (paramatman).” Yet, Zed now argues that yoga will do nothing to promote Hinduism? Regardless of how Alabama resolves its latest bout on yoga, it seems unlikely that controversies over yoga—or the often-paired practice of mindfulness meditation—will disappear any time soon. Indeed, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has recently renewed its objections to mindfulness. Yoga and mindfulness point to a key cultural divide over fr…
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…poignant portrayal of torture in a latter-day Next Generation episode. The latest offering aspires to none of these things, at least none that I can tell. Admittedly, I have learned that these films tend to get deeper with age. Politics has always been an inseparable part of the Star Trek universe (the introductory international relations class at my college, in fact, was full of Star Trek references.) There were multitudes of races and cultures a…
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…erceived insults against them and their Prophet? For starters, pick up the latest issues of Time and Newsweek, still the two leading weekly magazines, known to all Americans and read by many—especially in airports. On my flight to Istanbul, Time was available in the first airport lounge, Newsweek in the second. Against a backdrop of shouting mobs, smoke and fire, Time’s headline reads: THE AGENTS OF OUTRAGE An embassy attacked. Diplomats murdered….
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…e the viewer that Palin is as wily as they come. Her instinct for racially-coded populist speak is extraordinary, and she has only sharpened it since the 2008 election; those latest comments on the Civil War referenced earlier are just a part of the story of how Palin was able to dupe the religious right into embracing her, while pandering to the most dangerous elements in the Republican Party. Palin is also Exhibit A in why the Republican Party h…
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…ue alone.” Academics, for one thing, don’t usually get paid like this. The latest debate cost as much as $63,000, compared to around $46,000 last year. Most of it was speaker fees. Craig took part in the planning from the start. He insisted on particular details of the debate’s format, down to the timing of each speech and the placement of the clocks. (”Probably the most important technique to master,” he has told me about debating, “is managing t…
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While the flap over Rush Limbaugh’s latest in a long line of offensive and hateful commentary continues on, other figures with (arguably) more longevity and influence continue their assault on Barack Obama and what they see as the decline of Christian America. To wit: the Texas intellectual entrepreneur David Barton, who provides the footnotes for the “war on religion” thesis that currently has captivated the right. Most recently, Barton’s post,…
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