Religion Dispatches
…ny, then, like hijabi and niqabi girls trying to be less nerdy (stereotype number one) and go off to an important college sports event (stereotype two) in search of a place to pray at halftime which they were reasonably confident was not wet with vomit, pee, or the rain. No, it really did have some funny parts. But it was just that all the college girls were too squeaky-clean—all advanced-placement honor students from middle class suburban familie…
Read More…Pharmacy Examining Board in 2005 for his actions: both refusing to fill a student’s birth control prescription after asking whether it would be used for contraceptive purposes, and then refusing to transfer it to another pharmacy, but withholding it at the K-Mart and forcing the student to wait two days until another pharmacist was on duty. Noesen appealed the case to the Wisconsin Circuit Court and Court of Appeals, both of which ruled against h…
Read More…l.” They were sent home because their clothing was offensive. At least one student is suing, and the ACLUis representing the student. The ACLU is right. Schools have a right to set policy regarding clothing, and most public schools that I am aware of ban the seven words you cannot say on TV. This type of limitation is non-discriminatory and has been upheld in the judicial system. The banning of one type of shirt that does not possess any language…
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…roversial policies against dancing and the 2006 expulsion of an openly gay student have garnered national attention. This incongruity between the conference’s participants and its sponsors begs the question: who agenda is being promoted here? At this point, we can follow the money. The biggest sponsor of the conference, Tyson Foods, is also the benefactor of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace, where the event was held. Ac…
Read More…during my master’s program, I sat in a theology seminar and heard another student (a white man, whom I remember as being perfectly affable and kind) complain thus: “We only ever talk about a theologian’s context when they’re different from us, like when they’re black or a woman.” Duuuude. [Wince.] So close. And so apt, in a way. The worldview this student expressed was not his own invention, of course. Privileged people often imagine that the…
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…lure to comply with University policies”; “Gross abuse of trust in faculty-student relationship”; or “Misconduct involving moral turpitude, conduct constituting a felony under state or federal law, intemperance in the use of alcoholic beverages or use of illicit drugs, or other conduct clearly inconsistent with the standard of conduct generally expected of a teacher in a university sponsored by Baptists.” Baylor’s sexual misconduct policy advises…
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…Moreover, it was also reported that the faculty was more liberal than the student body, which came largely from orthodox churches. After her presentation, Brown-Collins reportedly gave a student a copy of The Bible and Homosexual Practice by Robert Gagnon—a 500-page attempt to demonstrate biblically that gays and lesbians should stand outside the beloved community. The next day, the department chair met with Hopkins about the book and his associ…
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…question. I suppose, as a teacher and scholar, my role is always to engage students and readers. Entertaining, then, is a core component in any successful scholarly enterprise. My book—I think anyway—doesn’t have an agenda. As a historian, I am moved to discover (or rediscover) new ideas and facts and reconstruct a historical moment with theses and other scholarly scaffoldings. That’s my truest agenda. If I, as a historian, and the reader, as a st…
Read More…hristian School (RBCS) in Niceville, Florida to add significantly to their student numbers by attracting students who could not otherwise effort to attend. They also have an entire program to support home schoolers. RBCS uses Rushdoony’s work in their high school classroom and Rushdoony was their first graduation speaker; they teach only young earth creationism and a version of American history that resembles that taught by David Barton but which…
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…d the symbolic significance of his assault weapon of choice. My Indonesian students understand the meaning of shoes perfectly well. They almost agreed with my Iraqi student’s assessment and the implications of the “shoe throwing” incident. One commented that in a symbolic sense this will have more important and longer lasting consequences than the attempted “shoe bombing.” Sometimes symbolic violence is, historically speaking, more damaging than p…
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