Religion Dispatches
…with random dining-table things like a wooden fruit bowl, a few artificial flowers, half a bottle of Sprite, and some phone chargers. The two smaller images feature the cluttered interior of a walk-in closet with a bunch of clothes and a faint family portrait on the wireframe shelf, and something that will be familiar to anyone with a newborn child: a rocking seat next to a pink and yellow baby mat. With the caption “A Home Revealed,” the audience…
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…uding administration figures like former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and senior political advisor Steve Bannon. It’s worth noting that the US government already does make de facto decisions about what counts as a religion and what doesn’t. The tax code makes implicit judgments about religious legitimacy in parceling out breaks to some groups and not others. Those rules, however, are fairly broad, and they don’t target certain religions…
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…at, and I apologize for being part of such a mean gesture. In fact I had a phone conversation with a prominent American imam last night—in Islam, we say subhanallah at such coincidences—and he mentioned in passing how offended many white American Muslims were by this very kind of gesture. On reflection, I can see why. I don’t find racial insensitivity humorous directed at me. The least I can do is not support it. And the least I can do is the leas…
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…e of religious violence. In October, Muslim extremist mobs in Bangladesh inflicted serious violence against the country’s Hindu minority during its most important festival, Durga Puja. The trigger? A Facebook post showing the Qur’an being placed on an image of a Hindu deity. To some Muslims, this offensive post justified attacks on Hindu shops, temples, and homes across Bangladesh. The violence didn’t stop here, though. In the neighboring Indian s…
Read More…od answer. I was ashamed that I didn’t have a good answer. Over time, I reflected on the shame I felt. I realized that at some point in the future my kids will ask what I did at this time, and I feel a responsibility for what has been done in the name of my faith to make sure my voice is not silent on this issue any more. Once I came out as an ally, a number of gay friends and family members came out to me, and in terms of love and connectedness…
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…aking exactly the same language. It’s a very clear set of rules about what flies and what doesn’t fly. These are deep-seated cultural ideas about self and identity, though. I wonder if this is how evolutionary biologists were talking in, say, 1910, before evolution became such a full-blown cultural battleground. I actually think one wouldn’t need neuroscience at all to notice some very basic things, such as that we all come to know and love and ac…
Read More…ce at winning, given the state’s Democratic leanings and promising polling numbers. O’Malley said that expansive religious freedom language in the law was important to its passage and in keeping with the traditions of the state of Maryland. The referendum language makes clear that the law protects clergy from having to perform any ceremony that violates their beliefs, guarantees each faith control over its marriage doctrine, and “provides that rel…
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…e of the word “marginalized” and the dominant narrative among some conservative Christians like Eric Metaxas who feel Keller is being “bullied,” Figueroa was incredulous: “Keller? The guy with a platform and money and prestige and influence? One of the biggest theological influencers in the evangelical and Reformed worlds? I’m sure that he’s not going to miss that $10,000, and there’s certainly not a shortage of platforms for him. And PTS isn’t ev…
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…ers were grace moments of acceptance and vindication; balm on the wounds inflicted by a history of anti-Catholic bigotry and the sense that some still believed Catholics were out of step with the world (and not in a good way). Here was this embarrassingly large early-20th century Catholic family—nine kids—the kind of raucous brood right out of Monty Python’s “Every Sperm is Sacred” skit and that more parsimonious (and non-Catholic) couples would l…
Read More…far between. The New York Times builds its whole story out of a handful of phone calls and an email. But the article indicates that those who run the various nonprofits that help soldiers achieve conscientious objector status expect a floodgate of calls if Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is formally repealed. The good news is that the groups don’t think there is legal basis for the claims. In the “don’t ask, don’t tell” cases, Ms. McNeil concluded that there…
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