Religion Dispatches
…Chapel hill shooting, to GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson, to a Sikh American beaten and called a “terrorist” in Chicago—now more than ever is a time to consider the religious extremism that exists in the American context, not just abroad. In the words of Mr. Roger, whose daughter Jill was only 24 years old when she died in the 9/11 attack, “I hope that the Memorial will have deep meaning, and will promote peace and welcome.” These days, whe…
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…ned with authentic caring.” Examples include Whole Foods Market, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, and, somewhat mysteriously, Amazon.com, which is known for using underpaid temp-style labor in its warehouses and allegedly mistreating employees at its home offices. You don’t have to be a Marxist to question whether these institutions are “fulfilling every major value of the great spiritual traditions.” At the very least, that sentiment might seem ali…
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…for the sacred union of one man one woman, for God’s blessing on national policy, and lift up the people of Taiwan to Jesus Christ, our compassionate savior, and Mary, mother of compassion.” Along with Christian condemnation, opponents of same-sex marriage have also argued that Taiwanese society has its roots in Confucianism, which promotes a strong adherence to traditional family values, and of course, producing offspring. They argue that the fu…
Read More…er he defrauded parishioners in a Ponzi scheme. Archaeologists unearthed an 1800-year-old statue of the Buddha in India. In Iowa, a pastor is praying that the IRS comes after his church for his political campaign against three Iowa Supreme Court judges who ruled to allow same-sex marriages. The American Family Association has joined in the campaign against the judges. Finally, the words of one of the Chilean miners rescued after 69 days trapped in…
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…ponse point to the funding source as evidence of its exclusive nature: the American Family Association. The AFA’s Bryan Fischer has said that Native Americans were “morally disqualified” from holding their lands because of savagery and immorality; that gays in the Nazi military were responsible for “six million dead Jews”; that the First Amendment only applies to Christians (which is his basis for preaching that Muslims do not have the right to bu…
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…unding the National Conservative movement is not without precedent. Between 1800 and 1950, Europe endured what amounted to a second Catholic Counter-Reformation. In the latter portion of the 19th century, predominantly Catholic countries in Europe—which of course European nations have largely been since the 1648 Peace of Westphalia—experienced an upsurge of royalist and irredentist passions to which the Catholic Church often attached itself (for e…
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…ing, the 2016 election has highlighted the enormous diversity of ways that Americans perceive honesty. But the territory of lying has always been contested. Even when the truth is clear-cut, certain questions remain slippery: what exactly does it mean to lie? When is it okay to lie? And what are the social, moral, and spiritual consequences of deception? To understand these issues better, I called up a historian of lying. Dallas Denery II is the a…
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…own descendants make. If those descendants exist. But for many native-born Americans there are fewer of them—fewer children and, as birthrates drop and marrying age rises, still-fewer grandchildren or none at all. This, in turn, says Douthat, has created a sense of alienation that is only further fueled by the decline of working-class communities and gives rise to “a grim vision of the future, in which after you’ve passed, your few kids and grandk…
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…st pride march since violence disrupted event a decade ago On July 8, about 1800 people took part in the first gay pride march in the capital city of Tallinn in a decade. In 2007, AFP reports, the march “descended into chaos” when “participants were attacked with stones and beaten by opponents.” Czech Republic: ‘We are fair’ campaign hopes to spark debate on marriage equality Earlier this month, activists in the Coalition for Marriage (KZM) launch…
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…rine Band playing some of the same “airs” it played for Thomas Jefferson in 1800. Compared to royal coronations, American inaugurations are remarkably simple affairs. But our ceremonies retain their own majesty and are capable of projecting a strong sense that something sacred is happening. Our inaugurations have always reflected a mashup of civil religion—invocations of our secular sacred texts, appeals to mystic chords of national memory—and bit…
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