Religion Dispatches
…n mind after the conquests in Greece: the symbol of a nostalgized, purer past, one lost in the fluidity of time and the frenetic repetition of conquest. It’s a hell of a poetic message for the newly emerging empire of Augustus that was already bragging about its “eternity” (and so it’s small wonder that the emperor eventually exiled Ovid from Rome to the Black Sea, though there are debates still today about what actually prompted this). According…
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…ing themselves to take back the position they lost two years ago when this story first came to light. It appears as if they may be trying to inoculate themselves against further scandal before they resume power by putting a priest on ice. It is obvious that the most visible religious institutions—from the Vatican, to Mount Athos, to the Southern Baptist Convention—are enormous bureaucracies virtually swimming in cash. Their relative immunity from…
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…not for religious reasons, since there are so very many of them. The cash-strapped State of North Carolina spent a lot more than one cent to get that penny back. As they should have done, though this citizen’s symbolic point had been made quite eloquently by then. No Picking and Choosing I have returned many times to that story as I have listened to Catholic churches, Catholic institutions from hospitals to universities, and two Catholic presiden…
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…rch of Christ minister, Turner is the executive director of Faith Aloud, a St. Louis-based nonprofit devoted to destigmatizing abortion. They were also responsible for the “Jesus Never Shamed Women” buttons. For the past four years, Faith Aloud’s “40 Days for Life” has been used in some capacity by over 200 (mostly independent) abortion facilities around the country, yet anti-abortion conservatives only took notice when a Planned Parenthood in no…
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…aying or calling for prayer in times of tragedy seems to mark a kind of existential angst, sorrow, or confusion for which other words or gestures seem inadequate. Likewise, the impulse to pray holds a space that we may not even believe exists, giving us time to gather our less spiritually distracted wits about us. It is “true” in what it offers more than in what it is. This is at least something of how one woman I talked with recently put it. An a…
Read More…rch about efforts by the accused Kansas City priest and the Archdiocese of St. Louis to subpoena confidential records from SNAP. There, she wrote: While the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has denied that there is a national strategy for the Church to fight sex abuse cases more aggressively, even the Church’s staunchest defenders see the pattern. As William Donohue, the pugilistic president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civ…
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…he book: “Why Southern Gospel Music Matters.” It still strikes me as the most straightforward explanation of what I’m up to in my research. I guess my long game needs some work, though. How do you feel about the cover? Love it. Covers (and perhaps authors in general) are a constant source of struggle for presses in the production process, and the folks at University of Illinois were astonishingly long-suffering with me as I fussed over finding exa…
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…e, Isaac is now officially at hurricane strength, and on a path toward the Louisiana coast—seven years to the day after Katrina’s devastating assault. And while the media licks its chops at the very newsworthy possibility of a GOP convention blown to bits by an act of God, our thoughts are with those who anxiously await Isaac’s landfall. We thought this would be a good time to bring back some of our finest writers’ meditations on the highs—and lo…
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…s nicely reflected similar frustrations on this viewer’s part. Some of the strongest moments in My Scientology Movie involve the audition process. As the documentary was shot in Los Angeles, they have no problem finding young actors looking for parts. What’s interesting is that the auditions do indeed provide a glimpse into the cynical overlap between show business and Scientology. “The practices of Scientology are like acting class techniques,” R…
Read More…stalwarts. We are not surprised. We’ve seen this coming. Remember it was just last year when Warren Cole Smith of World magazine declared that theological differences between Mormons and mainline Protestants were not just differences but “dangers”—implicitly accusing Mormons of an intent to use the cultural capital of a Romney presidency to bamboozle would-be Christians worldwide into converting to Mormonism instead. But in April, even Pastor Robe…
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