Religion Dispatches
…plugged-in lifestyle doesn’t really get at the heart of the issue. I think the Amish, of all people, have it right. It’s not so much about what you as an individual are doing or not doing, as the effect technology has on the community: Why not make life easier and just put [a phone] in the house? “What would that lead to?” another Amish man asked me. “We don’t want to be the kind of people who will interrupt a conversation at home to answer a tel…
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…ability of cell phones to be used for impure activities, some Jewish cell-phone users have requested so-called “kosher” phones. The idea is to offer conservative Jews a phone that is free of “corrupting influences” of the sort that are already avoided by ultra-orthodox Jews through a ban on television and some radio. Reuters reported in February 2008 that Bezeq Israel Telecom launched a new “kosher” landline phone service, which will block calls…
Read More…slogans about immigration reform. On line I heard that parishes with large numbers of undocumented immigrants had received many tickets. No outside food or water, statues, gifts or selfie sticks were permitted. Despite 10,000 folding chairs, most of us would have no choice but to stand. Once in my appointed place behind the last row of seats, I found myself in a community of fellow pilgrims, lottery winners from local parishes, nearby colleges, an…
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…ualism is bad. Also, he notes but offers no explanation for the decreasing number of marriages in many countries. I am glad to see that in Section 34 he understands this basic fact of contemporary western culture: The ideal of marriage, marked by a commitment to exclusivity and stability, is swept aside whenever it proves inconvenient or tiresome. The fear of loneliness and the desire for stability and fidelity exist side by side with a growing fe…
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…Professor of American Religious History at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Columbia University’s Chair of Religious Studies, Mark C. Taylor: Religion can be understood as a system of symbols (creed, code, cultus) by means of which people (a community) orient themselves in the world with reference to both ordinary and extraordinary powers, meanings, and values. (Albanese) Religion, I would argue, is a complex adaptive network of…
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…age. His 2012 book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar, has sold widely. Over the phone, I asked Rinzler why he and Burrows had chosen to establish the studio as a for-profit company. “We really wanted to make sure we had all the resources we need for supporting people who are trying meditation for the first time,” Rinzler explained. Because they’re a business, there’s more professionalism. The teachers they’ve hired show up on time, and, as Rinzler put…
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…Trump Broke the Law by Trying to Pressure Pence,” NPR, June 16, 2022. [14] Barbara Sprunt, “Jan. 6 Panel Sheds Light on the 187 Minutes Trump Went Dark during Capitol Siege,” NPR, July 22, 2022. [15] “Varieties of Democracy,” International Democracy Community. The International Democracy Community describes electoral democracy as a baseline for other, more expansive types of democracy. A country can be defined as an electoral democracy if it has c…
Read More…to its annual conference, specifically that maven of “conscious evolution” Barbara Marx Hubbard, who spoke in 2012. In response, the National Catholic Reporter’s Thomas C. Fox wrote an impassioned defense of LCRW’s choices as reflections of Pope John Paul II’s commitment to ongoing efforts to reconcile science and religion. And Hubbard herself followed up in NCR with a strong argument for what she sees as the essential relationship between conscio…
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…at help to explain why he can’t countenance the existence of god. “Up Your Santa Claus Lane,” which describes Jillette’s response to his mother’s death, cannot fail to move. The devotion to family throughout puts to shame those who populate our headlines with the divine injunctions misguided parents cite to punish their children too severely. Penn may be an atheist, but he would not sacrifice his family, even for “God.” Few will be surprised that…
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…until the child stops believing. So, they get the pleasure of believing in Santa Claus without having to be stupid enough to believe in Santa Claus. Parts of the liberal church get to have their intellectual credulity while existentially experiencing a form of fundamentalism. My argument is the church needs to have a liturgical structure that enacts the death of the god-idol that brings us to a place of brokenness. There have been criticisms that…
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