Religion Dispatches
…likely succeed in arguing that they were denied due process, based on the swiftness with which they were required to show compliance with the new rulings. The AP also reports that the Department of Health and the Environment plans to implement restrictive TRAP laws, possibly identical to the ones blocked by Murguia, on a schedule that would make them permanent. In order to be permanent, the regulations would have to take effect only after a period…
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…In delving into Clinton’s religious history, we studied her relationships with a number of spiritual mentors, including Tikkun’s Michael Lerner, who was soon replaced by “sacred psychologist” Jean Houston, who famously helped the First Lady get in touch with the ghost of Eleanor Roosevelt. Later, after Mother Teresa died, Clinton invoked the spirit of the nun as her guiding light so religiously that one might be excused for wondering whether she…
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…Constitution a declaration that “marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex”. Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said the wording is clear and precise, and gives a right to every citizen who wishes to get married. The minister said that she believes the referendum is a recognition of the increasing acceptance of people of different sexual orientation. Bishop of Clogher Liam MacDaid, w…
Read More…or Happy Ramadan to their customers? What if non-Christian customers don’t wish to be to be greeted with “Merry Christmas?” Should Christians care about their feelings? It’s my contention that they should. Loving one’s neighbor involves respecting and being sensitive to their feelings. My suggestion is that if Southern Baptists feel the need to de-secularize Christmas they should practice the teachings of Christ and reflect on whether or not they…
Read More…ented those New Thought metaphysicians who were pushing forward a dialogue with far-flung emissaries of yoga and Buddhist meditation in the wake of the World’s Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in 1893. Among James’ favored practitioners of these newly improvised regimens of meditation was Ralph Waldo Trine, a Boston-based reformer with a knack for inspirational writing. In his classic account The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) Ja…
Read More…bsite from which he claimed to get his information. He pulled out his cell phone: “Freddie!” he said to an unseen interlocutor. “Will you find me what that website for the saucer, the prophecy, for tomorrow night – the 14th?” He paused, then yelled: “THE SAUCER! All I want is access to the information so I can give it to someone else.” He then recited the web address of a YouTube video. It was my own searches, however, that turned up Goodchild’s w…
Read More…multi-language blog to shepherd today’s world: [a] daily scriptural verse with [a] simple reflection, brief text and plentiful images.” So, the question is, will the pope heed Lam’s advice and embark on the wonderful world of blogging? Will he use this twenty-first century means of communication to express obsolete ideology? Or would blogging help the pope realize that some of his teachings are a wee bit outdated? What next, Pope Benedict on Face…
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…paign and candidacy have revealed nothing else, they’ve shown us some of the challenges of not seeing and not talking openly about race, and the ways that religion intersects with and influences these discourses. (Photo: “November 4, 2008, Chicago, IL” Courtesy of the author. All Rights Reserved. )…
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…religious America are (and, moreover, in the wake of Obama’s election, who will get their phone calls returned from the White House) certain names keep cropping up. Pastor Rick Warren, who sees no daylight between his views and James Dobson’s, but who, according to Sullivan’s book, former-DNC-chair Terry McAuliffe blasphemously didn’t know; Jim Wallis, best-selling author and activist who lambasts the religious right for its petty intolerance and…
Read More…asking as many questions. Sure, the heartland is often but sparsely dotted with reflexive questions about identity and praxis. The borderlands are characterized by more self-doubt and more humility. But oh, so much less comfort … ! How ironic, we immigrants sigh to ourselves, that we can turn on the tap to clean water at whatever temperature we like, but we can’t put up a poster of the Holy Mosque in our cubicle. We can protect ourselves from heat…
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