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What is Juneteenth to America? It Has to Be More Than ‘Black 4th of July’ if It’s to Be Truly Meaningful

…been here before, from Reconstruction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1950s and 1960s the struggle to form a more perfect union has been continually been rejected in favor of new intransigent forms of anti-black racism. However, with each return to this very spot a portion of the nation’s soul is permanently lost. Prophets such as Douglass, King, and Baldwin have warned us time and time again that the nation cannot continue on this path and…

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Let’s Get Lost: Mapping Religion in the 21st Century

…tial for contemplation of that term. The best maps, offer only a sense of things, a limited measure, while simultaneously serving as an invitation to further exploration. The laughter at the North Clintonville, Ohio “Krampus Parade” gathering, as pagans and friends unite to banish the spirit of evil from the yuletide season with drums and bells and masquerade—or the more solemn drumming, accompanied by the steady pat of feet in a procession of Spa…

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God Makes an Independent Film

…pleading and spasmodic twitching, the church members filled with the Holy Spirit, rolling on the ground —all of this will be as foreign to many viewers as the practices of Planet Naboo, and far less comfortable. It’s at these moments that the film is most challenging. You either dismiss their vision as the delusional ravings of a misled sect, or you have faith that there may be the hand of God somewhere in there. True to the director’s agnostic i…

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Four Reasons for Optimism in the Wake of Tragedy—Insights from a Sikh and a Unitarian Minister

…ave temple president Satwant Kaleka, the precocious young children of 9 and 11 years, Amanat and Abhay, who ran inside the temple warning of the arrival of the armed killer. This appears over and over again in Sikh thought and history: spiritual courage manifests itself in a time of worldly defeat, enabling one to transcend victimhood. Through his teachings, the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan, reminds us: ‘[A devotee] has no pain, she is totally at p…

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Teilhard’s Legacy Can’t Be Reduced to Racism: A Response to John Slattery

…’s writings and judge for themselves. With Slattery, I recommend the early spiritual classics, “The Mass on the World” and The Divine Milieu. Among his later writings, “The Heart of Matter” provides an autobiographical explanation of his overall vision. Ursula King’s Spirit of Fire, the most recent biography of Teilhard, offers another entry point for those interested in learning about his singular life experiences. Teilhard is complex and not wit…

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Women’s Liberation Through Submission: An Evangelical Anti-Feminism Is Born

…ly dismantled some of the speakers’ Leave it to Beaver idealizations of the 1950s as a time when women were universally protected). Though only just under 3,000 women have actually signed the document since its unveiling on October 11, the fact that it exists, and the campaign to gather such a large showing of public support, reveals something important about this movement: that its followers don’t view themselves simply as a remnant of polite, ch…

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Occupy in Exile: Sacred Space is Everywhere

…y wants to know where it is—and it is everywhere. On Monday night, November 14, 2011, the mayor of New York City ordered the police to evict the 500 or so overnight occupiers in Zuccotti Park. As part of the eviction, tents and computers, books and papers, food and toilet paper were destroyed, actually ground fine in dumpsters. Many falsely thought the movement wouldn’t survive its physical eviction and material destruction. They were and are wron…

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Who Could Possibly Take Issue With ‘Human Dignity’? Beware of Trojan Horses

…closely to the precepts of Thomist natural law moral philosophy and to the spirit of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ironically, however, the belief that human dignity is contingent upon some abstract reflection of “the face” of God has led us into dark places that subvert these universal values. For instance, one might be forgiven for noting that the commitment of Dignity Health to the “sanctity of human life,” based upon the noti…

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God Grows Up: Robert Wright’s Evolution of God

…n on the Web. What are some of the biggest misconceptions about your topic? 1) That religion, at the time of its origin back in hunter-gatherer days, had anything to do with morality. Divine sanctions against stealing, lying, etc., aren’t much needed in a hunter-gatherer village, because it’s harder to get away with these things in the first place when you live with a very small number of people. 2) That ancient Israel was monotheistic from the ge…

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Religious Leaders On Anti-Muslim Frenzy: “Silence Is Not An Option”

…tional Religious Campaign Against Torture called it “a blight on America’s spirit and soul.” Several, including Cizik and Dr. Roy Medley, General Secretary of the American Baptist Churches, noted how their own traditions thrived from the religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution, a freedom they said people in their own faith traditions now seek to trample for Muslims. David Saperstein, executive director of the Religious Action Center for R…

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