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Is it Okay to Celebrate the Death of Rush Limbaugh — or Should We Let the Dead Judge the Dead?

By Daniel Schultz

…nfidence, but I’ve never heard of such a prohibition in Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism. Most likely, it’s become a cultural norm in the West not to trash the dead because of Christianity’s general ambivalence about judgment, and a broad sense that we have better things to be doing. But if you’ve learned nothing from reading Religion Dispatches, you should have learned that it always pays to interrogate the “we” when it comes to such matters. Limbaugh…

YOU Are Spiritual But Not Religious: The Secret Spiritual History of the Choose Your Own Adventure Books

By Daniel Silliman

…apiece, more than 50 titles were published over the next three years, and about 30 million copies were printed. Connoisseurs have noted the differences between Packard and Montgomery. Sean Michael Robinson, who was obsessed with the books as a child, recalled that Packard’s titles were more internally consistent. “Although we often were drawn to the concepts and themes of R.A. Montgomery’s books, we were put off by the lack of narrative logic,” w…

Is the Prochoice Religious Community a Sleeping Giant?

By Frederick Clarkson

…world religious traditions present in the United States, including Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Taken together, they have vast resources, institutional capacity, historic and central roles in many towns and cities, and cadres of well-educated leaders at every level. These are the kinds of human, cultural and institutional resources that can sustain a powerful political movement. All this may be a revelation to those who’ve been conditioned by t…

Civil Religion v. Uncivil Religion; With Deadly Consequences

By Daniel Schultz

…tly waves and laughs from a distance while walking the dog, or stale jokes about the tedium of Zoom meetings? David M. Perry makes a serious case that social distancing is “today’s greatest act of patriotic love,” and he’s not wrong. You would have to go all the way back to Liberty Bond rallies and victory gardens to find a time when Americans were more united in civic duty. This isn’t a fair fight—of course it isn’t—and I haven’t presented it as…

Whatever COVID-19 Brings, This Chaplain Wants You to Remember That the Death Rate is Ultimately 100%

By J. Dana Trent

…xperiences in World Religions. What are some of the biggest misconceptions about your topic? That we don’t want to discuss death. We actually do—we just don’t have the tools to do it. What is true is that we’re curious about death in different ways—academically, scientifically, existentially, religiously, philosophically, psychologically, spiritually, and practically. We crave intellectual and emotional space to make sense of our own death and the…

Why ‘Do You Believe in God?’ Is at the Heart of Our Religious Problem

By Michael Jerryson

…us Movements (NRM) around the world. As a Pedestrian, my focus is on my conscience and reflecting deeply upon my own sense of right and wrong. In my religion, questions about divinities, heaven and hell, and other external factors distract me from my purpose as I “walk through life.” This stance—and more particularly my response—disturbs the fundamental categories we employ about religion. When people hear I’m a Pedestrian, they think I haven’t ch…

Despite Reversal on Hillary and Hellen Keller, ‘Christian Americanist’ Bias Remains in Texas Curriculum

By David R. Brockman

…an references stands at 11, though Hinduism is mentioned only twice, while Buddhism, Confucianism, and Sikhism receive only one mention apiece. And the revised standards still require students to learn about Christianity’s major divisions (Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Protestantism), but not those of other major religions such as Islam (where the Sunni-Shia divide still plays a vital role in current events). This disparity shows just how Western-center…

In Trump Sexual Assault Speech Michelle Obama Articulates a New Political Morality

By Daniel Schultz

…anything here today. And last week we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. And I can’t believe that I’m saying that.” She went on to connect Trump’s behavior to the experience of many women in America (again via TPM): “I feel it so personally. And I’m sure that many of you do too. Particularly the women,” she said. “The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief th…

Marriage Debate in Australia Shifts To Push For Religious Exemptions; and More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…tent, the government supports their actions. Many perpetrators openly talk about their crimes as noble deeds.” … Homosexuality in Russia, where the influence of the socially conservative Orthodox Church has grown in recent years, was a criminal offence until 1993 and classed as a mental illness until 1999. … The ‘gay propaganda’ law, which has been used to stop gay pride marches and to detain gay rights activists, is seen by many as a move by Pres…

Insecto-Theology: A Wake for Our Planetary Commons

By Jacob J. Erickson

…o, whether we realize that or not. Forms of ahimsa in Jainism and forms of Buddhism avoid violence against the insect world. Locusts serve to remind of the divine judgment in the Hebrew Bible. Leviticus spends some time asking which insects might count as food. In the book of Judges, a bee colony sets up in the carcass of a dead lion. Butterflies often serve as symbols of resurrection. Jesus asks hearers what is valuable, since moths destroy the p…