Religion Dispatches
…w believers live out their faith will have much impact. Beyond that, they will fail to honor the richness of spiritual practice that seems still to be an enduring feature of American life, despite its secular leanings. And, if social researchers want to understand the depth and diversity of contemporary religious life, they must expand the categories of religious practices they study so that formerly “alternative” practices can begin to be studied…
Read More
…care for minors as child abuse. And while that attack is certainly political—although many in the press seem to rely on a fairly narrow definition of that term when they describe the cruel Texas policy—it’s no longer tenable to argue that the attack is “merely” theoretical or rhetorical, even if a handful of state officials have said they believe the policy to be illegal and will refuse to comply. On Tuesday, the news dropped that Texas officials…
Read More
…in 1926, eleven years before Samuel’s birth. Born into a poor family in rural Jalisco state, Eusebio had left a distinguished military career at the age of 30 in order to follow a pair of ascetic pentecostal preachers. He was accompanied by his wife, Elisa. A few months later, according to Eusebio, a voice came in the night, commanding him to rename himself Aarón, and to start a church of his own. That church would be la luz del mundo—the light of…
Read More
…built on Christian principles. But only a few of my professors have been willing to talk about the incongruity of that with America’s foundation of indigenous genocide and slavocracy. To this day—like that of Abel—the blood of black and brown people cries out from the ground while many white Christians continue to ask, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The message of Christianity, as delivered, has not always been good news for people of color. The leg…
Read More…n inevitably equals less faith (something I’ve argued against before), the Internet will bring the end of religion. Finally, in my favorite clip of the hour, we have the story of two types of historical people: the ignorant masses, who exhibit blind loyalty to the stories of their fathers; and a rare few who question and explore, who in the past became theologians and today become scientists and philosophers. Here Dennett is rehashing that story…
Read More
…on” in an August 2010 piece and citing FAIR in a story claiming that “illegal aliens” would “trump veterans at US medical offices.” Groening also praised a Mississippi immigration raid, citing the Mississippi Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement (MFIRE); listed on FAIR’s Web site as a “local group,” one promoting an Arizona-style immigration law in Mississippi. According to a 2010 report by the SPLC, “FIRE took the lead last year in c…
Read More
…ty and given her a measure of inner peace. “I see value in practicing religion on a daily basis,” she reflected, “and having a little more time on my own to focus.” Whether by choice or compulsion, more people are finding more meaning in worshiping at home. Household religion in the pandemic will almost certainly alter the landscape of American faith, though it’s hard to say how deep or lasting the effects will be. All we know for sure is that, fo…
Read More
…ersecute people for their sexual orientation because of so-called traditional values based on conservative religious norms. A truly democratic society can’t accept abuse in the name of religion. . . ‘A proper probe and justice for the killings won’t do much protect the community. The government must ensure that the discrimination of LGBT people ends in this country even though the so-called protectors of Islam might not like it.’ Mannan also worke…
Read More
…t role did ideology play in the act, what was the relationship between mental illness and ideology for the act itself.” And what can be gained from analyzing the manifesto of a mass shooter? While there are different genres of shooters’ declarations, they give some insight into the perpetrator’s worldview and influences, enabling experts to identify patterns of thought and ideology, an important step in finding a sociological answer to the questio…
Read More
…s of biblical verses, what do we do? Well, we have to turn to our fundamental values and ask which reading makes sense in light of those values. By way of analogy, “thou shalt not kill” seems to admit of no exceptions—and yet, obviously it does, because other biblical verses discuss the law of war. So we resolve the ambiguity in one verse by looking at other ones. And this is where our tie turns into a win. Unless the very existence of sexual d…
Read More