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Narco-Violence and the Failure of the Church in Mexico

By Jennifer Scheper Hughes

…social critique and a utopian vision for the future of Latin America. This project was, for a time, powerful and pervasive enough that it could have mitigated some of the underlying social problems that today create fertile ground for drug-based economies and narco-violence throughout Latin America. The liberationist vision was taken up nowhere else more seriously as by the Diocese of Cuernavaca, under the leadership of the beloved “red bishop,” d…

The Power of (Glenn Beck’s) Myth

By Julie Ingersoll

…ed in transcendent values. With Founders Fridays, Beck University and 9-12 Project events around the country Beck and David Barton have been disseminating a mythic (and inaccurate) version of American history over the past few months. And Saturday’s rally was the blossoming of their powerful mythic narrative. From start to finish the whole event was orchestrated to elicit a profound emotional experience, much the way religious revivals have evoked…

Queer Religion and Community at HRC Summer Institute

By Rebecca T. Alpert

…ll as teen homelessness and suicide in places like El Paso, Texas.” To the project of justice, Krista Wuertz added “care,” expressing the wish that “we who had the privilege to come together in this manner will use what we learned [to] continue to create authentic ways to communicate care in the service of advancing justice.” Mentor Patrick S. Cheng provides a fitting summary of the connection we experienced: “As a gay Asian American theologian, I…

Hope for an End to Mexico’s Narco-Violence: Response to Jennifer Scheper Hughes

By Stephen Andes

…act Catholics from confronting the social and economic bases of drug-violence in Mexico. But history, perhaps, leaves room for a bit of optimism. Although the Catholic project for social justice in Mexico might be interrupted, hope might already be rising with a new generation….

‘Atheizing’ the Dead, Religious Doughnuts, & Tax-Free Witching

By Michael J. Altman

…” Donald Trump offered to buy out one of the major investors in the Park51 project. The investors said thanks but no thanks. A North Carolina teenager whose family is part of the Church of Body Modification has run into trouble with her school’s dress code. The 14-year-old is looking at a ten day suspension if she returns to school wearing her prohibited nose ring. In Roswell, New Mexico, a group of students have been suspended for giving their te…

Americans Are Overtreated to Death

By Daniel Schultz

…n and intensive care when they are dying, according to the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which tracks health care trends. Yet the numbers show that’s not what is happening: •The average time spent in hospice and palliative care, which stresses comfort and quality of life once an illness is incurable, is falling because people are starting it too late. In 2008, one-third of people who received hospice care had it for a week or less, says the National Ho…

Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Laying on of Hands

By Lauri Lebo

…ance from environmental science experts, who fear the $360 million barrier project would be ineffective and could even possibly make the situation worse. Of course, this is a typical response from Jindal, a creationist who is notoriously anti-science. Here is a link to the Family Forum article. If you scroll down to photo under “Let Us Pray!” you’ll see the laying on of hands on Gov. Jindal during the vigil. Hat tip to Barbara Forrest. Correction…

‘Biblical’ Disaster in Haiti: Pat Robertson and the Curse of Unyielding Ignorance

By Matt Recla

…world’s powerful, educate the next class of policymakers and lawyers, and project a conservative evangelical interpretation of politics and world affairs around the globe. Is Pat Robertson influential? Maybe just a little bit. Matt Recla | The Theo-logic Behind Pat Robertson’s Offense In the wake of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, moderate Christians have been thoroughly embarrassed again by Pat Robertson. In like manner as after 9/11 and Hurrica…

Are They Jewish Bones? Battle for Separation of Synagogue & State in Israel

By Shalom Goldman

…nes of the Jewish dead, the group will demonstrate, and lobby, to stop the project at hand. Rabbi David Shmidel, the head of Atra Kadisha, recently told a gathering of thousands of supporters that archaeologists and all “those who treat the bones of Jews cavalierly are our enemies.” The bones that generated the latest controversy were found during construction of a hospital wing in the city of Ashkelon, on the Mediterranean. Barzilai Hospital, th…

The Myth of ‘Voodoo’: A Caribbean American Response to Representations of Haiti

By Dianne M. Stewart

…es-long struggle for freedom, sovereignty, and dignity is indeed a demonic project—but it would have been hard for captive Africans in Saint-Domingue to embrace the divine character of their colonizers’ Christian God. What the colonial ruling class understood to be either divine or demonic in the Christian pantheon, the enslaved African laborers had to have understood as one and the same evil force. Prayers for protection While the details concern…