Religion Dispatches
…the end, they hunted him down, chasing him from his palaces and attacking him in his own gaudy vanity projects. He made his last stand near the buildings he had lavished Sirte with. He who accused al-Qaeda of being behind Libya’s revolution ended his life releasing audiotapes only the Syrian government dared share. What do we learn from that? He was apparently found in a drainage pipe in Sirte, his hometown; ending where he began, under the groun…
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…e on the phone a couple times and I had always dreamed of someday visiting him at his home in Winchester — “Come on down!” he said — to spend an afternoon on his front porch listening to him tell stories, while he strummed on his mandolin. It never happened. For the past couple years, Bageant, who believed the US has descended into oligarchy, had been living in southern Mexico. He had returned to Winchester for treatment after his diagnosis. Bagea…
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…and Kurdistan. The pharmacist showed me a video he had made with his cell phone, which did indeed look like a cattle surge of vehicles illumined by a few eerie lights. Now the news from his town is “very bad”—there is no water or electricity or food in stores. Christians are forced to make payments to be allowed to survive and have to pretend to be Muslims and go to the mosque, and ISIS militants roam around the streets and do whatever they want….
Read More…hat the Ten Commandments monument was on government grounds, reported that his pastor had told him that all religious displays in Oklahoma must now feature displays of Satanism as well. Others believed the monument would have seven heads, or that it would be appear on “The White House.” One caller tearfully confessed that in the 1960s she had used peyote and crystal meth, and read Nietzsche. The voicemail service cut her off before she could finis…
Read More…discovers that he actually has a girlfriend, and, bizarrely, had tried to hide this fact from her. If last week’s episode highlighted the pressure upon daughters to reflect well on their parents’ ministries, this week’s focused more on the parents and their vulnerability. Nikita fumbles for an answer to Victoria’s question. Victoria struggles to contain her frustration. Marie Coleman frantically tries to get hold of Taylor, while Ken (whom we ha…
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…at they called a family meeting the day after it occurred. The bishop said his children are putting pressure on him to step up security at his house in a quiet Kampala suburb. “Me, I don’t even have a guard but [my family] may want me to have one,” he said. The bishop’s youngest son, Andrew, said that while the threats to his father’s safety have always been there, the murder has intensified the family’s worry. “Somebody who has been in the newspa…
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…love and I’m very excited about it. It explores why games of the imagination like Dungeons and Dragons became such a source of panic to conservative Christians during the 1980s. I think this book will be very cathartic for anyone from my generation who felt persecuted because their beloved hobby was dubbed Satanic….
Read More…condemns the Ugandan bill, but also took the opportunity to again reassure his Ugandan followers that while he doesn’t support killing gays and lesbians, he still believes homosexuality is condemned by the Bible and that he opposes marriage equality for gays and lesbians: While we can never deny or water down what God’s Word clearly teaches about sexuality, at the same time the church must stand to protect the dignity of all individuals—as Jesus d…
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…Woods, one of my favorite horror films. Or It Follows. Or The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, one of the most disturbing haunted house stories of all time. Or one of Robert McCammon’s horror novels from the 1980s, maybe The Wolf’s Hour or Mystery Walk. I’m currently reading my way through his oeuvre. McCammon’s horror writing is brilliant—evocative and touching and sometimes deeply disturbing, sometimes utterly awe-inspiring. I would’v…
Read More…at we had on the phone during the Dover trial back in 2005. I have to admit his recollection is pretty accurate. At one point he said, “How dare you say that we’re stupid.” I told him that I wasn’t calling him stupid. Not at all. I was calling him dishonest. With regard to that account, he and I are in agreement….
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