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Life as a Game Show: Reading Slumdog Millionaire

By Paul Courtright

…at the attention to Mumbai’s slums and underworld merely reinscribes a cartoonish representation of India as a land of poverty and corruption. Some Hindus have complained that the film depicts Hindus as thugs. In an odd bit of related trivia, Mercedes Benz requested that its logo be removed from shots that take place in the slums, lest audiences draw an unsavory association. At one level the movie is, as noted above, an heroic “rags to riches“ nar…

Marriage Equality: No More (Word) Games

By William Myatt

Last week, I joined the HRC logo campaign on Facebook. This small gesture in support of gay marriage was the latest in an ongoing evolution of my thought. Like a handful of others, I’ve only recently “come out of the closet” as a straight, married, (quasi-)evangelical Christian who supports the right of every person to marry the person they love. Not surprisingly, my small gesture sparked a bit of online controversy. Because my Facebook friends…

Controversy Over Jay Shetty’s Authenticity Masks the Bigger Question: Why is the West Drawn to Such Figures Over and Over Again?

By Prea Persaud

…Will and Jada Smith, to GAP ads with wife Radhi—the ones that feature his toothpaste-ad smile and eyes that rival that one famous National Geographic cover—it’s hard to escape Jay Shetty. He is beloved among celebrities and his motivational talks frequently make the rounds on social media, but many have also found his platitudes eye-roll-worthy and his story about his monk past suspicious. A recent exposé on Shetty by the Guardian’s John McDermott…

US Catholic Bishops Elect a Culture Warrior

By Marian Ronan

…not spend a lot of time attacking the bishops. But she was also nobody’s fool. As the distinguished historian of American Catholicism James Terence Fisher has stressed, Day was shrewd enough to become one of the most influential American Catholics of the twentieth century. And just because she didn’t get into rows with the bishops doesn’t mean she was their lackey. A colleague the other night told of once seeing Dorothy pitch a fit at the editor…

Presbyterians, Change Hearts & Minds, Begin Ordaining Gays

By MaryAnn McKibben Dana

…r the change. This victory finally removed exclusionary language from the Book of Order, which required “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.” The old language also required prospective ministers and officers to repent of “any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin”—a list that includes transgressions as varied as usury, “undue delay of marriage,” and “immoderate use of m…

A Letter to the Religious Left on the Victory of Obama

By Daniel Schultz

…ved to play favorites. Anti-Gay Resolutions If you understand yourself as rooted in tolerance, Pursue the repeal of California’s Proposition 8. At first glance, this might seem like nothing but trouble for a new Religious Left. You are, after all, made up of elements that span from secular white social liberals to highly religious black and Hispanic social conservatives. No other political coalition in America covers that much ground. There’s alre…

Week in Religion: Satan Sandwich, Captain Israel v. Foreskin Man, Christian Missile Launchers

By Michael J. Altman

…ch run by monks in North Dakota has run short of work hands. In the comic book superhero circumcision battle of the century, Captain Israel takes on Foreskin Man. Looking for some clerical training? A couple of reitirees in Oklahoma run an online Bible college, the Apostolic Faith Online Bible Institute. A study finds that more education does not drive you away from religion, but instead liberalizes your religious beliefs. Israel’s basketball leag…