Religion Dispatches
…the line!” But of course I need to look at it through my perspective. The best I can say is I do my best to be mindful of it. I never intend to attack or criticize people. What I always intend to do is expose the shadow side that people are usually not aware of. The type of comedy I enjoy is when the comedian delivers a line in such a way that it makes us become aware of something we previously weren’t aware of. The punch line is delivered and th…
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…es before we decide that, just maybe, our theory about the Bible isn’t the best fit with the idea that God is love—and hence isn’t the best fit with the content of the Bible itself? Any theory of the Bible that requires me to ignore my neighbors in favor of teasing out the correct meaning of Romans 1:24-27 seems to do an injustice to the Bible’s heart. If there’s a core message to the Christian Scriptures, it’s that Jesus—a person, not a book—is t…
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…d to train all people to do. “YOU CAN DO THIS.” Elaine Howard Ecklund: The best mentor is one who is thinking about gender and equality. Robert Wuthnow, a mentor of mine at Princeton, is a great mentor of women who have done extremely well. And you need more than a formal mentor. Any marginalized group needs a bit of initial encouragement to stay on the path, and that can come from any kind of personal relationship. An advisor gives intellectual s…
Read More…Zvan knows that, at their best, stories are not just about amusement. The best ones may actually be true somehow. Is Naff’s truncated religious story true in the way he suggests—literally, scientifically? Maybe so, maybe not. Is it true in the way he wants it not to be—poetically, metaphorically? Maybe so, maybe not. As a Christian, I think so. But Zvan differs: “We are better off treating [non-scientific] stories as fantasies until they are supp…
Read More…prevailing sense of early 21st century LDS institutional life is that the best way to deal with such anxieties is to push through them, and that the best expression of the faith is the projection of a sense of assurance as polished and attractive as the storefronts at City Creek Mall. That’s how most Mormons plan to walk through what may very well be a season of public relations nightmares, as Romney’s GOP candidacy brings even greater scrutiny t…
Read More…or his efforts to pay off and arrange a lobbying job for Doug Hampton, his best friend and aide whose wife he’d had an affair with — said “there are consequences to sin.” He’s nonetheless confident that “God has forgiven me, and so has my wife.” The announcement comes as the Senate Ethics Committee ramps up its investigation, even though the Justice Department concluded its probe without pressing charges. Sin: Ensign had an affair with his best fr…
Read More…cided on the next best thing from then on: I would do what I thought would best enhance my experience of the hajj and I would stay away from the rest, opting for silence if somebody else’s culture got too close. The variance of different cultural Islams prevented the women in our tent from creating an immediate community for the days ahead. At one point, the group leader wanted to inform the men and women together about the rites of Mina, Arafat,…
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…more wisely. I hope, in choosing future words, you’ll consider not what’s best for the Hannity bank account, but what’s best for humanity. I long for the day when profitable words are words that uplift, encourage, and inspire people. The strength of this nation has always been our unity in diversity and our unity in the face of adversity. By using your words to create a world of “us” and “them” you only perpetuate violence and discord in our soci…
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…quake in Haiti. As I will explain, I am not sure that attacking him is the best use of anyone’s time. Nevertheless he has provoked me to rank my top five things to remember about him—less as a direct response to his comments than as a way to cut though the media frenzy caused by the comments and to address wider issues raised by his career. Most people know that Robertson interpreted the quake in the context of Haitians who supposedly “swore a pac…
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…American psyche can in some small way be healed, and that we should refuse to give up on the notion that American culture is at its most vibrant in those rare moments when the best of the liberal and the best of the conservative traditions converge. I had forgotten just how perilous those ideas can be….
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