Religion Dispatches
…loose and invisible organization, he sets out to unravel the whole knot of American political fundamentalism. Sharlet, who has since become one of the best journalists covering American religion today (and a columnist for Religion Dispatches), got a remarkable scoop some years back. An acquaintance invited him into Ivanwald, the community in Arlington, Virginia, that exposed him to a network of which few outsiders are aware. He calls it “The Famil…
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…ntling imperial America would require a realization of the extent to which American democracy has been subordinated to so-called American interests, as defined by the moneyed interests now squatting in the civic temple. It would require a radical rededication to the rule of law and to the principle of human solidarity, according to which 3,000 Afghans killed as collateral damage weigh no less heavily than 3,000 Americans killed on September 11th….
Read More…Movement sees the future here, specifically the changing views of younger American Jews on Israel and Palestine. It may not agree on everything with J Street, but it knows it can’t be excluded from an association that claims to represent the views of all American Jews. UPDATE: J Street is asking supporters to sign a “thank you” note to Malcolm Hoenlein, the president of the Conference, and the Conference itself (“join us in thanking Malcolm Hoenl…
Read More…e target. Secondly, of all the bones they could pick with the Super Bowl, American Atheists chose praying fans as their target and presumably spent a considerable amount of their members’ money doing it? I know that their professed purpose is to protect the civil rights of atheists but couldn’t they have some harmless mission drift for the occasion and join forces with an anti-trafficking group or an activist network that calls out the rampant ho…
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…stian innocence” that profoundly shapes American society in ways that many Americans do not. Fully two-thirds of LGBTQ Americans are nonreligious (compared to about one-third of the general population), for what seem like obvious reasons—and yet it’s not the LGBTQ Christians who leave the religion, but rather those who reclaim it as something inclusive, who get all the media attention. There’s a peculiar sting to the form of erasure that comes fro…
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…Age religious movement can be traced to events in the early 1970s when the American Indian Movement made headlines across the country with occupations in South Dakota, Arizona, and Wisconsin. Among the participants were many American Indian spiritual leaders who were knowledgeable in the use of the sweat as a healing ritual—and they shared the ceremony with Indians and non-Indian supporters from around the country. Like the dried head of a dandeli…
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…ded in framing the practice of legislating racism as a failure not only of American policy, but of Americanism as a Christian cult in particular, and also among good people of all faiths: A powerfully sacred international transcript. Clergy and religious laity issued statements condemning the hatred and discrimination pulsating throughout Arizona’s Christian and Jewish communities (no official word to the large percentage of Mormons was issued). H…
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…says with her hands on her hips. According to Bey, being an outed African-American woman atheist is the same as committing cultural suicide. You’re rejecting a long history and everything your ancestors believed and stood for. You are telling your mothers and sisters that you think they’re stupid. For African-American women, identity comes first. “Because of us, you are.” Enjoy Being an Atheist At last, the speaker I had waited for is introduced….
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…tly touched on with my 4-minute, no-budget video was the growing divide in American culture, religion and politics that (according to some well-respected observers) threatens the viability of American Democracy. Beneath the most obvious and salacious details of the scandal lies a Christian subculture that, like a vast chunk of Antarctic ice, had years before begun to diverge from the mainstream mass of secular culture; some, like Hagee’s church, h…
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…ike that [old] way. I call your attention to the introduction of the term “American system”: do we hear something just a tad bit proprietary? The legend of the Virtuous Republic has been invoked, the American system is what renews and guarantees the virtue, but that system is now malfunctioning on account of a God deficit. Or perhaps because of a Flag deficit. It’s hard to tell which, because in minds made like Douthat’s the two always run togethe…
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