Religion Dispatches
…nary leader can affect real, positive change in the social fabric of Lower Manhattan. However, leadership is about more than being in charge and more than thinking about what is good. It is about outlining a vision and knowing what is good. I do not think any of the organizers of Park51 are operating out of ill-will, but there is no indication that they actually know what they are doing on this project, either in terms of building it or running it…
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…f two worlds at a posh New York event. Hosted by Rupert Murdoch “in one of Manhattan’s most celebrated ballrooms,” the event feted Rick Warren—evangelical preacher and publishing sensation—bringing together the seemingly disparate worlds of urban sophistication and folksy faith. “Do you know any of these evangelicals that are here?” a publishing house editor asked Lindsay. “I’m dying to meet one.” The supposed evangelical/liberal divide is popular…
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…which was held at The People’s Forum in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, is but one stop en route to the Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington on June 20. The Campaign is a 50th anniversary continuation of the Poor People’s March launched by Martin Luther King Jr. and continued by Ralph Abernathy after King’s assassination. Freedom from Christian nationalism The day’s first panel featured two of the leading authors i…
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…s even blamed it for the decline in church attendance: “The decline in the numbers of people going to church in this country in mainline Protestant communities is in part a symptom of the ways in which capitalism has gutted our value systems so that people no longer even imagine the need for communities of moral formation and faith.” But since the project became public in October Jones has gone silent on theology. When she did talk about God to th…
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…e are the people with whom Dr. Oz danced with on Monday: *** An increasing number of individuals have lent their support to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, including icons such as the physicist Stephen Hawking. The growing strength of the BDS campaign highlights the controversial nature of visiting Israel as it continues to brutally violate human rights through its occupation of Palestine. Apparently for some such “trivial” co…
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…et. The Kyoto Protocol, which commits industrialized countries to internationally binding emission reduction targets, was the first climate treaty to emerge from this process. It was passed at COP3 in December 1997 at Kyoto, Japan and came into force in February 2005 when a sufficient number of developed countries signed the agreement; the United States did not, hampering negotiations for the next decade. A successor agreement, involving all count…
Read More…. Single women who remained single were not unknown, but were not large in number and remained an anomaly. Wealthy and middle-class or educated single women could hold their own. In the diaspora, professional single women, outside of a traditional Muslim context, will inevitably change the face of the community. Traditional, conservative Muslims may have much to fear from these changes, but they must be faced. Growing numbers of Muslim women are m…
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…rts and shows, as well as contributing to these dialogues we’re having. My phone’s ringing off the hook, and I’m participating as much as I can in discussions with LGBT lay people and clergy. There are so many people who want to have a positive dialogue about this. I’m getting to the point that I feel like I can engage at a positive level and contribute to that conversation. So, did you follow the recent change in the Presbyterian Church-USA? Th…
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…l I could no longer live with it. Then, one day while I was talking on the phone in a dark room, just like that, I shed my belief in a literal “first couple.” Strangely, I don’t remember who I was talking to or what the conversation was about, but all at once I understood and it felt great. Yet my childhood belief had provided protection for me and had given shape to my understanding of God and even of myself, and what did I have to replace it wit…
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…ny time during the day. Gun ownership is outlawed in eight states and “the number is growing with increasing Democratic control of state legislatures and governorships.” Home schooling has been “severely restricted” thanks to the lobbying efforts of the National Education Association. Anonymous points out that although President Obama “expressed strong personal disapproval” of many of the Supreme Court decisions that have brought about these chang…
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