Religion Dispatches
…or celebrity status. The Orlando nightclub shooter reportedly checked his phone for news about the shooting during the actual event; the man who murdered hostages at the Hyper Cacher kosher grocery store in Paris last year filmed the attack on a GoPro camera (in that light, the company’s slogan, Be a HERO, seems chilling). It would be wrong to ignore these shooters—their acts have enormous consequences—but you feel complicit, somehow, when you pa…
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…A group of priests and nuns held an “exorcism” to “purify” Belgrade after last month’s successful pride celebration, reports Gay Star News. Uruguay: Diversity March draws 50,000 people More than 50,000 people reportedly participated in this year’s Diversity March in Montevideo. The theme was “Discriminar también es violencia, que no te gane la indiferencia” (Discrimination is also violence: indifference won’t win.) Montevideo celebrates September…
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…may not yield as reliable of estimates as probability samples taken over a phone or another method. That is, we tend to be somewhat skeptical of population estimates produced by such data.” Asked what they thought the purpose of the 2020 State of Theology Survey might be, and whether it might be geared toward driving evangelicals to the polls, Whitehead replied, “I do think there is a particular narrative that they are trying to push with this res…
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…ure. So for at least 20 years, he’s been in conversation with these folks. Last year, Parker joined another prayer call with NAR leaders—including the influential Dutch Sheets—which, according to Taylor, reveals the depth of his involvement with NAR theology: I found another case where Clay Nash, who convenes the call, says, Oh, yeah, Tom Parker, he’s a friend of Dutch. So, there’s a real relationship here. And Tom Parker who is on this call is sa…
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…so every day was started with a 30-minute services. I took Holy Communion classes every Sunday afternoon for 2 months one summer when I was 8 or 9. There were four major holy events—“Conferences”—when everyone would gather on the main Church campus and spend a week purely in Church praying and listening to the Church leader. On my own, I prayed every night before bed, blessed my food, prayed whenever I was driving in a car, and did rosaries every…
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…year wandering in the wilderness of a semi-hiatus, Doctor Who fans have at last reached the promised land: a new season, with a new actor in the lead role (Matt Smith) and a new executive producer, Steven Moffat. The last few years have been a great time for the longest-running science fiction show in television history. Though older episodes in the continuing saga of the time-traveling Doctor have generally been relegated to “cult” status—at leas…
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…T people. Munson sent word out across the Mormon grapevine, through email, phone, and Facebook, inviting fellow churchgoing and believing Mormons to join her at the Pride Parade in Sunday dress. And Mormons responded by the hundreds, arriving at the parade route yesterday morning in their church clothes—dress shirts and ties for men, dresses for women. Some carried scriptures in hand. Others pushed their children in strollers, or carried them on t…
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…s on Twitter and Facebook, I got lots of nice responses from friends, some last-minute advice, and then of course the requests to “pray for me.” I also had one of my pre-hajj talks with my shaykh, who also gave me a list of do, persons to pray for, and some important reminders about etiquette. So I think about the Joan Osborn song. What would you ask, if you had just one question? I’ve thought about it before. And I’ve thought about it a lot. Stil…
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…eful guy.” After sentencing, in a video of him speaking from prison on the phone, Angeli renounced his lawyer and his mitigation plea of mental illness. The story he tells now is that he’s not crazy but acting on the invitation of President Trump. In preparation to appeal his sentence, he’s hired new attorneys from the NCLU, the Proud Boys’ version of the ACLU. So far, 80 of those charged have been found to have links to extremist groups. The Prou…
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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…
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